We Are Family
by Louisaxo
Summary: My version of Twilight: Eclipse. In my version, Bella has to adjust to permanent life with the Cullen's. After an experience (1st Chapter), Bella moves away with the Cullen's. A story i fully intent to finish. Family Fluff, with a slight change in Edward's personality, Enjoy! ONLY DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE TWILIGHT FRANCHISE OR ANY OTHER FRANCHISES MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.
1. Chapter 1

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Bella POV**

"Get off me!" I yelled at Jacob when he didn't take his hands off me.

I pushed at his chest and his face, but he was too strong for me, I couldn't force him away from me.

 _Don't cry in front of him. Do not cry._

 _Don't cry in front of him. Do not cry._

I kept on saying it to myself but it didn't work. A few tears slipped down my face, and he noticed.

"Bella don't cry, this is what you want, this is what I deserve, I've had to sit in the side-lines long enough. I'll get you in the end Bella Swan, you're mine"

"You won't get away with this, Jacob." I told him quietly.

Jacob scoffed.

"What are you going to do, tell your bloodsuckers to get me, if they come on the reservation they will be torn to shreds, we'll have a party turning them to ashes." He said to me through gritted teeth.

I finally forced Jacob off of me and I managed to move my arms fast enough to hit him in the face with my fist.

I retaliated as soon as I hit him, it didn't hurt him at, all it did was hurt me. My hand and wrist were throbbing and I couldn't even move my hand without a sharp pain shooting through my arm. It was killing me. I started to walk in the opposite direction away from Jacob when he grabbed my other wrist in an attempt to make me stay with him.

"Bella! Wait!" he shouted. I managed to get my wrist out of his grasp and walk off in the other direction ignoring his shouts and pleas for me to stay with him instead of going back to Edward and his 'bloodsuckers'.

Jacob didn't attempt to follow me after I broke out of his grasp. As me and Jacob were about a 15-minute walk from the border at the time of the 'incident' I decided to walk to the border from the lake. I felt so betrayed. He was supposed to be my best friend; and he hurt me.

I walked to the border thinking about how I was going to explain his whole thing to Edward and his family without World War III beginning between the vampires and the wolf pack.

…

As I reached the border I pulled out the cell phone Edward gave me and thought about who I should call. Calling Charlie was out of the question, and there was no way that I was calling Jacob to take me back home. It was Wednesday afternoon; I knew Carlisle was working at the hospital today but I couldn't remember whether he was working a full day shift or just the morning shift. I knew, of course, that Edward was on a hunting trip with Esme, Emmett and Rosalie. The only people I knew for sure were at the house were Jasper and Alice.

I opened the contacts and scrolled down the list until I found the contact aptly named 'Cullen House'. I dialled the number and waited for someone to answer the phone. On the third ring, however, somebody answered the phone.

"Hello?" I heard Jasper say on the other end.

"Jasper? I need your help!" by this point I was crying and I was actually finding it a bit difficult to breathe.

"Bella! What's wrong? Are you still with Jacob?" he asked me.

"Jasper! I'm at the south Quileute border, and I can't get back, something happened." I whimpered down the phone.

"Bella, Alice and I are coming to get you, hold on, you're okay were coming!"

 **Jasper POV**

I was sitting in the living room with Alice when the phone rang. Alice and I looked at each other, nobody ever calls the Cullen house because we are so secluded from the humans.

I got up to answer the phone and I immediately became worried when I heard Bella crying on the other end of the phone.

"Bella! What's wrong? Are you still with Jacob?" I asked her.

" _Jasper! I'm at the south Quileute border, and I can't get home, something happened."_ She told me.

By this point Alice was standing by my side with the same panicked expression I was wearing, I could tell that she was worrying because of my gift, being able to read people's emotions, but it was written all over her face. Her eyes pointed straight forward and she was in a trance, searching the future.

"Bella, Alice and I are coming to get you, hold on, you're okay were coming!" I told her and put the phone down on the cradle.

I turned around to face Alice and before we know it we are climbing into my new silver BMW and speeding down our drive towards the southern Quileute border, breaking all of the speed limits but, oh well, we are vampires we can get away with a lot of things.

I took the cell phone that Alice handed me, only taking her hands off of the steering wheel for half a second. I quickly opened the contacts and dialled the number for Bella's cell.

" _Alice?"_ Bella's voice came through the receiver.

"No, it's me. Can you tell us where you are? We know you are at the south end of the border but we could do with a more precise location, Alice still can't see you properly so you must only just be out of their territory." I informed her.

" _There's a small clearing behind me, and there are loads of trees chopped down, I'm where Edward usually collects me, ash Alice she knows where it is."_ Bella told me. I lifted the phone away from my ear and turned to face Alice.

"You know where that is?" I questioned.

"Yeah, we're about three minutes away." Alice told me, pushing her foot down on the accelerator.

"You hear that Bells?" I asked her.

"Yeah I did, see you guys soon…" Bella trailed off and I took the phone away from my ear, ending the call.

 **Bella POV**

Jasper hung up the phone after he assured me that he and Alice were coming. It made me feel better knowing that I wasn't alone in this and that Alice, Jasper and the rest of the Cullen's were willing to protect me. I walked up the embankment and sat under a tree to protect myself from the spitting rain. I used the sleeve of my shirt, in a most unladylike fashion, in an attempt to wipe away the tears and the run mascara from underneath my eyes. I suddenly heard a screech and a car come to an abrupt stop. For a second I thought it was Jacob and I stayed where I was until I heard somebody call out my name. "Bella!" someone called and then somebody else shouted after me too. "Bella! Where are you?"

It was then I realised that it was Jasper and Alice. I stood up from underneath the tree and stepped out from the trees. "Alice! Jasper!" I bounded over to them and straight into Jasper's arms. He wrapped his arms around my back squeezing me, assuring me that he was there and that I was safe.

After a few moments I looked up at Jasper sheepishly. Jasper had changed hugely, not just the fact that he can put up with my scent now, he had welcomed me into the family just like the others.

"Sorry" I said, a little embarrassed. "No need to be sorry little sister!" Jasper smiled at me before I let him go and walked over to Alice, throwing my arms around her as well. Jasper chuckled when I pulled away.

"Bella are you okay?" She asked me. I smiled slightly at her before I stepped back looking at the both of them.

"Bella I can only see you walking back to the border, clearly upset! What happened?" Alice asked me.

"Something happened with Jacob and I left him by the lake, I'll come over to the house later and explain later. Please? Right now I need to go home and talk to Charlie, I will only be a few minutes and then I'll be over to the house before you know it. Can you please take me there and I will drive over to your house after I have spoken to Charlie, I need to ask Carlisle about my hand anyway?" I asked.

They both looked at each other before nodding at me, Alice lead me back over to the car before getting in the back beside me holding her cold hand around my wrist to reduce the swelling a little. Jasper got into the driver's seat and started the car, turning around and heading back to Forks. For a while I was in a daze before I finally came back to reality. I looked around the car, realising I had never seen it before, even in the Cullen garage.

"Uh, whose car is this?" I asked.

Jasper chuckled before answering me. "It's mine, it was delivered yesterday, you are surprisingly observant today. I was getting a little fed up with the bike so I tried a different approach, do you like it?"

I met his concerned gaze in the front mirror before answering. "Yes, it's very nice, it's pretty, and it definitely a Cullen car."

Both Alice and Jasper chuckled at my comment. "What is a 'Cullen car'?" Alice asked me. I smiled at him before saying "You know, a nice car, an expensive car, a car that you drive, give me another person in Forks that drives around in a Porsche on a daily basis." I said laughing.

Both of them laughed at my comment and I sighed as we arrived at Charlie's house. I knew he was home because I could see the police cruiser in the driveway.

"So," Jasper said "you'll be at our house once you have spoken to your father?" I nodded and assured them both that I would get there safe. I got out of the car, watching as Alice scampered into the front passenger seat and watched the car disappear around the corner.

I approached the front door clutching my injured hand to my chest before knocking the door and waiting for Charlie to answer the door.

The front door swung open to reveal a very surprised looking Charlie looking at me curiously. He then saw my wrist clutched to my chest and sighed. "What on earth did you do this time Bella?" I stormed past him letting him see the hurt written all over my face.

"How dare you storm passed me! Isabella Swan I am your father and you will show me some respect! Bella, what did you do to your hand?"

"Jacob kissed me and I punched him." I admitted reluctantly. It was then I got a reaction that I didn't expect, Charlie started laughing; laughing at the fact that his own daughter has been assaulted and that she is hurt.

When Charlie was finally able to speak though the tears streaming down his face, he said, "You are moping around because a boy kissed you? Because Jacob kissed you? Bella this is ridiculous, and quite frankly its very childish."

It was then I snapped. I grabbed the car keys and barged past him. Charlie grabbed my uninjured hand as I stepped off the porch and pulled me around to face him. "Let me go!" I yelled at him.

 **Charlie POV**

I could not contain my anger anymore because of the blatant disrespect of my daughter. How dare she barge past me! Who does she think she is? I have been feeling the same lack of disrespect from Bella for weeks, and I had a feeling what, or who, was the problem. The Cullen's.

"Where are you going?" I demanded

"I, am going to the Cullen's to see my brothers and Carlisle, I need to do something about my hand." she replied.

It's always the damn Cullen's. She would spend all of her time with her precious boyfriend if she could, I on the other hand could not stand the boy.

"No, you are not!" I shouted.

"Yes, Charlie I am because I am 18 years old and you have no right to stop me!" she told me.

At this I lost it. I raised my hand and slapped her across the face. For a second she was shocked before she broke free of my grip and bolted to the car.

 **Bella POV**

I raced to Edward's car and started the engine before Charlie could even shout after me. I was able to control my sobs, now I just wanted to stop my cheek from stinging. I drove in silence for the rest of the drive until I reached the mouth of the drive to the Cullen home. I took a deep breath and continued to drive the rest of the way up the drive before stopping in front of the magnificent white house. It was decided that after my beloved truck stopped starting, that I would use Edward's car until I agreed to let him get me a new one.

I stepped out of the car and approached the door silently. I knocked quietly knowing that they could hear it and it wasn't 2 seconds before the door was open and Jasper was standing before me. Jasper must have been able to sense my emotions and he pulled me into his arms where I started to cry silently.

After a few minutes of Jasper comforting me he kissed my hair and pulled away, putting his arm around my shoulders and leading me towards the kitchen. I sat on one of the bar stools and Jasper walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water and placed it in front of me.

"Thank you" I told him as he came to stand in front of me, his eyes widening as he saw the throbbing red mark on my cheek. "Carlisle, I need you, now." Jasper mumbled and before I could turn around to face the other direction, Carlisle was standing in the kitchen alongside Alice and Emmett.

"Emmett! When did you get back?" I asked.

"About half an hour ago! I finished before the others and decided to come back early, Edward won't stop worrying about you so I told him I'd make sure you were okay." He said cheerfully, not knowing that I wasn't okay, but they were bound to find out soon.

Jasper touched my face and turned it in his direction, and looked at my cheek in horror. "Bella," Jasper said my name with such horror, "Can you tell us what happened?"

Before I could speak Carlisle directed us towards the living room. I got up from the bar stool and followed Carlisle, Jasper, Alice and Emmett into the other room keeping my head down. I sat down on one of the sofas and Carlisle sat beside me with Emmett and Jasper sitting on the sofa opposite; Alice sat on the arm chair to my left.

"Bella?" Carlisle asked hesitantly, "What happened Sweetheart?"

For a moment I was stunned at the amount of love and compassion in his voice, and I realised that Carlisle is more of a father to me than Charlie ever was.

 **Carlisle POV**

I decided to try a different approach. "Bella?" I said and she looked at me hesitantly. "You don't have to go home tonight if you don't want to, you can stay here. Or one of us can drive you home later on after the others arrive home?"

Bella shook her head and she said "I don't want to go home tonight, please don't make me go home." She begged.

It was then I realised, this was caused by Charlie, and I looked at the boys and I could tell that they had come to that conclusion as well.

"Bella, did Charlie do this to you?" I asked her and she nodded. "Can you tell me what happened Sweetheart?"

"After Alice and Jasper dropped me home earlier, I wanted to talk to Charlie. After he answered the door, he looked at my hand and asked 'what I had done this time' before laughing at my reason. Then when I became angry I grabbed my keys and stormed out of the door to come here, like I told Alice and Jasper I would, Charlie grabbed my wrist as I was leaving and he demanded to know where I was going. When I told him I was coming here he told me that I was not allowed to come here and I told him that I am 18 and he cannot stop me. I think he kinda lost it and he struck me across the face." She admitted.

Both myself and the boys were completely shocked at this, we had not been expecting that. Alice looked at Bella, sympathy pouring out of her in waves, as she already knew what happened. Alice didn't want to tell us what happened, much to Emmett's chagrin, because she thought Bella should be the one to tell us.

"Bella? How did you break your hand Sweetheart?" I asked. I also feared that Charlie had caused this as well.

She only mumbled her answer, "I punched Jacob because he kissed me."

I was not sure what to make of that response, but I needed to be sure of something. "Bella did you want him to kiss you?" I asked quietly.

"No, I couldn't push him away, he was too strong for me to push away, I wanted him to stop but he wouldn't listen to me. He kept on telling me that he was the right one for me and that he deserved better." She reluctantly replied.

"Oh Sweetheart." I pulled her to my chest and wrapped my arms around her, and she wrapped her arms around me.

"Carlisle!" Alice suddenly said.

"Yes, Sweetheart?" I asked, tearing my eyes from Bella.

"They're coming here! Charlie is determined to get Bella and take her home, if Charlie had his way in this he would ban Bella from coming here and seeing any of us ever again!" She said, obviously angry.

"Then it's a great thing that Charlies say doesn't matter in this situation." Emmett said through gritted teeth.

Bella looked towards me, fear flaring in her eyes.

"Sweetheart, you'll be okay." I said, hugging her comfortingly.

…

Fifteen minutes later Emmett and Jasper, who had previously sat silently talking with Bella and Alice, leapt up and started growling. Alice stood up and took a seat next to Bella, taking the hand that wasn't in mine in hers and smiling at Bella reassuringly. I could smell the scent too, the scents of a human and a wolf approaching the house.

Jasper approached the window, looking towards the front porch before growling again, Emmett joined him to see who the problem before turning and bounding towards the front door at a human pace.

"Jasper, is it just them?" I asked, Bella still in my arms. I knew who it damn was already, the nerve they must have so show up at our house.

"Yeah, Jacob and Charlie." Jasper replied.

I sighed and gently pushed Bella upright so that she could see my face. I turned to Jasper then, "Jasper get Emmett and bring him back here, we are doing this my way." Jasper nodded before running after Emmett and pulling him back upstairs.

Once both boys were sitting on the sofa again I looked back to Bella. "Sweetheart, do you want to go upstairs with Emmett and Jasper? I will fix your hand when they are gone, Alice can you stay down here?" She nodded and stood up, the boys following as Emmett put his arms around Bella's and Jasper's shoulders as they walked up the stairs.

Alice and I stood up and now we had to focus on the men downstairs who were constantly banging on my door. " _Stop banging my door, I'm coming!_ "I muttered and heard a chuckle from Emmett upstairs. I approached the door slowly and pulled it open to see the man who hit my daughter and the boy that assaulted my daughter.

"Charlie, Jacob." I greeted them.


	2. Chapter 2

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 2**

 _Now we had to focus on the men downstairs who were constantly banging on my door. "Stop banging my door, I'm coming!" I shouted and heard a chuckle from Emmett upstairs. I approached the door slowly and pulled it open to see the man who hit my daughter and the boy that assaulted my daughter._

" _Charlie, Jacob." I greeted them._

 **Carlisle POV**

"Where is my daughter, Carlisle?" Charlie demanded as he and Jacob entered my home.

"Carlisle, I'm going upstairs with the others." Alice mumbled.

"Okay." I said, not loud enough for Charlie and Jacob to hear.

I did not wish to have this conversation by my front door, so I directed them towards the stairs and then directed them to follow me to the living room.

Once we were in the living room Charlie became very angry, I did not need Jasper's gift to see that, I could feel the rage pouring off him in waves.

"I won't ask you again Carlisle! Where is _my_ daughter?" he demanded, yet again.

"Bella is upstairs with Jasper, Alice and Emmett" I told him calmly.

"Do you think this is okay Carlisle for a teenage girl to be alone in a bedroom with her _boyfriend_?"

I did not like the way Charlie said that, I found it quite insulting.

"Charlie, are you trying to say that I am not capable of looking after my own children?" I snarled, now I was getting angry.

"Yes, Carlisle, that is exactly what I'm saying! It is hardly responsible is it?" Charlie shouted.

At this I exploded. How dare a man who can lay hands on his own daughter criticise my parenting!

"RESPONSIBLE! At least I don't lay hands on my children! How dare you tell me that I cannot look after my own children! Do I need to say it again, she is upstairs with Alice, Emmett and Jasper, Edward is still away with the girls!"

I could tell that Charlie was afraid, terrified even, I don't think he had ever seen me look so scary, and we Cullen's can look kind of scary at the best of times.

I saw Jacob head up the stairs but I knew that Emmett and Jasper would sort him out so I didn't bother following him, I was too busy with Charlie.

"As I said, Bella is upstairs and she did not want to return home tonight so I told her she could stay here, she can stay here as long as she'd like." I said with a normal tone to my voice, a human couldn't tell I was angry.

Charlie looked outraged. "She's coming home with me! She will NOT be staying here with _you_ and those _boys_ of yours, her _brothers_ of whatever she called them!"

I did not like the way he said ' _you_ and those _boys_ of yours'. It was like he had a hint of disgust in the way he said the words.

"Why is it such a problem that Emmett and Jasper are her brothers? Why is it a problem that they want to love and protect her?"

Charlie sighed angrily and shouted, "It won't be a problem because she's not staying here!"

Charlie stormed past me, barging me out the way in the process and made way for the stairs, I had to walk at a human pace so he wouldn't suspect anything. Charlie charged in the direction of the shouting which I assumed was Emmett or Jasper arguing with Jacob. As we approached the second floor I heard Bella's voice, telling Jacob to leave and that she felt betrayed. Charlie of course headed in the direction of Bella and grabbing her wrist with his hand before she could get back into the bedroom.

"Get your hands off her now!" Emmett snarled to Charlie who didn't back down at all.

"She is _my_ daughter and she is coming with me!" Charlie snarled back at Emmett.

Alice stood beside the others, the angriness shining in her eyes.

Charlie pulled on Bella's arm again and she screamed. Charlie was hurting my daughter. I had had enough. I stepped between Bella and Charlie and pulled Charlie away from Bella. After Bella was safely back in the confines of Edward's bedroom with Alice, I began to pull Charlie towards the stairs and away from Bella, I signalled for the boys to grab Jacob and it made me smile when the boys grabbed one of Jacob's arms each and dragged him down the stairs following me to the front door.

Emmett and Jasper stopped short of the door after I had thrown Charlie out letting him know I will call him to let him know if and when Bella will go home. Emmett and Jasper stood in front of Jacob with their arms crossed in front of them.

Suddenly Emmett swung his arm and punched Jacob in the face, then grabbing his arm and throwing him out saying, "since Bella couldn't do it herself, it's only polite that I do it for her!"

When Emmett came back upstairs I couldn't hold my smile. It was so good to see the boys protecting their sister. They had matured so much since Edward met Bella, taking up the roll of her protectors when Edward isn't around. I truly believe that they love her and that she loves them.

We all turned around when Bella and Alice came down the stairs and I smiled when she came running at me, she threw her arms around me and I put my arms around her. "Thank you." She whispered.

"Of course Sweetheart, you are part of this family and you are welcome to stay as long as you wish." She smiled and pulled away heading for Emmett and Jasper and hugging them next. She thanked Jasper and then Emmett picked her up and swung her around as she thanked him for breaking Jacob's jaw and nose for her.

…

 **Bella POV**

After Charlie and Jacob left, Carlisle checked my hand and told me that it was just a sprain, he wrapped my hand and told me that it would be find in a few days' time. Jasper then asked me if I wanted to watch a movie, I nodded and said that I didn't mind what we watched and that I would be back in a minute.

I made my way up the stairs to the library where I found Carlisle reading a medical text. He had invited me in before I had even knocked on the slightly ajar door. I entered the room further and sat on the armchair opposite to the one Carlisle was sitting on.

Carlisle put down the book and looked at me, he asked, "Is this about what happened with your father at your house?"

I nodded and looked at him reluctantly, keeping my head down as much as possible. Finally, I decided to speak.

"My father had never lay a finger on me until tonight, and I was so shocked, I was so scared. I was so scared that he would take me away from here, take me away from my family. After what happened tonight I was sort of reminded of something, something that happened what I was young and I lived with my mother. My mother used to do the same thing my dad did tonight but on a more regular basis, like when she had to leave me by myself or leave me with babysitters that I didn't like."

"Bella, are you telling me that your mother physically hurt you from a young age?" he asked me.

Reluctantly, I nodded my head, not knowing how Carlisle would react to this news. He reacted much differently that I thought he would. By the time Carlisle had processed the news and put me on his lap I was sobbing. I couldn't help it, it was like I had bottled up these emotions for so long and now I was releasing them.

"Oh, Bella." Carlisle murmured into my hair.

Carlisle just held me and rocked me and stroked my hair as I cried, and I realised again that Charlie had never done this for me, even my own mother hadn't done this for me as I cried, she just hit me instead. I realised that this was my family, that I loved them and they loved me.

 **Jasper POV**

Me, Alice and Emmett were sitting downstairs setting up the movie for us to watch with Bella when we overheard her conversation earlier. It's no wonder that she was so scared earlier when Charlie tried to drag her out of our home. I could feel all of Bella's emotions radiating off her body from upstairs: Anguish, shame, embarrassment. Then there were Carlisle's emotions and was he angry. Carlisle very rarely gets angry at people, and when he does its most likely one of us, for doing something wrong or incredibly irresponsible. I could also feel Emmett's emotions but his emotions were: pain, helplessness and love. Three emotions that I do not feel from Emmett very often, except for love, of course. Alice just felt anguish for her kid sister sitting upstairs. Suddenly, there were movements upstairs, and I raced up the stairs to the library to find Carlisle standing in the doorway, with a sleeping Bella curled up in his arms.

"You heard?" he asked me.

I nodded. "We didn't mean to, and by the time we realised what she was telling you it was too late, I can't believe it. Ali and Emmett are still downstairs, they'll come and say goodnight in a minute." I told him, the others appearing besides me.

"Are you putting her to bed?" Emmett asked and Carlisle nodded.

I walked ahead of Carlisle towards Edward's bedroom. With Emmett opening the door so that Carlisle could walk through with Bella still in his arms, and I pulled back the comforter so that Carlisle could place her in the bed properly. Carlisle placed her down and pulled the comforter up to her chin, he sighed, said, "goodnight, Sweetheart", kissed her head and left the room. Emmett followed suit and kissed her forehead murmuring, "sweet dreams little sister", and then turning briskly and heading back downstairs. Then it was just me, I pulled up the blankets, tucking her in, then I kissed her head saying, "goodnight little sister".

"I'll stay with her, Edward should be home soon." Alice said.

"Okay, they should be back within the hour." I said, smiling before turning and heading downstairs.

 **Carlisle POV**

I left the room after I kissed her forehead and wished her goodnight, with Jasper and Emmett leaving the room a few minutes after I did, Alice decided to stay with her. It was around 9PM now so the others were due back in about an hour, they shouldn't be back too late. Emmett came into the living room, Jasper in tow, and threw himself down on the sofa. Jasper sat in the armchair closest to the television and we didn't even discuss what had just been discussed. We just sat there in silence. Emmett looked very curious, as if he was trying to process the information that he just acquired. It was then Bella's heart rate began to accelerate. Jasper jumped up first and headed to the stairs obviously sensing her emotions.

"Jasper, what is she feeling?" I asked him.

"She's feeling scared and she's in pain." He answered me, still continuing to head up the stairs.

We were at Bella's side in a matter of seconds, she was thrashing around in the bed, getting herself tangled in the comforter. Alice was kneeling on the bed her hands attempting to restrain Bella's shoulders. I told Jasper to restrain her legs so she didn't hurt herself and Emmett and I attempted to wake her.

"Dad…dad…" she mumbled in her sleep.

"She's calling for Charlie?" Alice asked.

"Give her a minute we might be able to calm her. Jasper can you try, just enough so that she doesn't hurt herself. "

Jasper nodded and focused his gaze on Bella, and I could see that she was rapidly calming and she stopped thrashing around on the bed.

Bella settled down after a few minutes, then she gasped and her eyes flew open. She was breathing hysterically as she wiped away the tears that had fallen.

"Bella, Sweetheart it's okay, you're safe here, and we won't let anyone hurt you."

As soon as Bella heard my voice she bounded towards me and threw her arms around me, and I wrapped mine around her, showing her that she was safe and we weren't going to let anyone else hurt her further.

"You're okay!" she said. I was a little confused, so were Emmett and the others.

"Of course I'm okay Bella, what's wrong Sweetheart?" I wondered

"In my nightmare, Charlie was dragging me to the door, and I couldn't stop him, I kept on calling for you, I thought Charlie might have hurt you or one of the boys or Alice, even though I know that's completely ridiculous."

Wait, when she was calling for her father she wasn't calling for Charlie, she was calling for me?

"Bella, when you were calling 'dad', you were calling for me?" I asked her quietly.

She nodded. "Sorry" she said, and for a moment I wondered why she was apologising and I replied, "There is no need to apologise Sweetheart, it's okay, I can be your father if you want me to be."

She nodded into my chest and I smiled. Of course I would be her father, other people see it that I am the 'leader' of the Coven, but I'm not, not really. Everybody has an equal opinion on the decisions that will be made, Esme and I just get the final word on serious matters that will impact the whole coven.

"You must be tired Sweetheart, do you want to go back to sleep?" She nodded into my chest before letting go and climbing back into the bed and pulling up the comforter. We each wished her goodnight and left the room, closing the door behind us, with Alice staying with Bella once again.

 **Edward POV**

As we approached the house after our hunting trip, I heard a heartbeat inside of the house. Bella. What is she doing here?

' _Edward what is Bella doing here?'_ Rosalie asked me in her thoughts.

"I have no idea, Jasper seems pretty on edge." I replied, grimacing.

I could hear that Esme was also curious into the reason why Bella was here.

We had approached the house when Esme asked me, "Edward, what are the boys and Alice thinking about?"

I looked into their minds. I then told Esme, "Carlisle is thinking about the positive and negative effects of Sildenafil Citrate, Jasper is reciting the Korean alphabet and Emmett is thinking about Rosalie, so he's obviously trying to keep something from me, Alice is thinking about going shopping with Bella and Rose tomorrow." I said glumly.

We opened the door and walked through, holding it so Esme and Rose could walk through, then closing it behind me. Carlisle looked up when we entered and smiled walking over to Esme and hugging her, then planting a soft kiss on her lips before looking up to greet the rest of us.

"Carlisle, why is Bella here?" I asked him.

Carlisle looked at me with an odd expression on his face and lead us all towards the sofas.

"Bella is staying here tonight, Alice is up there with her now, something happened with Charlie and she didn't feel safe going home, so I told her she could stay here." He explained to us.

"What happened with Charlie, Carlisle?" Esme asked him. Wouldn't we all like to know?

"Something happened today on the reservation and when Bella was hurt she was collected by Alice and Jasper. She went home and she had an argument with Charlie after he called her ridiculous and he told her that she wasn't allowed to come here. After a while Bella showed up here when me and Alice were out. Jasper was with her in the kitchen with her when I heard him say 'Carlisle I need your help', when we returned I directed us all towards the living room, she had a sprained wrist from the reservation incident and a rather large red mark on her cheek from her argument with Charlie. When she got here we were in the living room when the boys jumped up and started growling. Charlie and Jacob came here. They kept on banging on the door until I opened it and when I finally did Charlie barged past me demanding to see _his_ daughter. Basically he told me that I was not responsible enough to look after my children and then stormed upstairs to drag Bella out of the house. She was in Edward's room with Em, Alice and Jazz, he grabbed her wrist and she screamed. I stood between them until he let her go then grabbed his arm and threw him out, Em and Jasper did the same with Jacob but Jacob left here with a broken jaw and a broken nose." He explained to us.

"What happened on the reservation Carlisle?" I hissed, knowing the answer already, Alice was thinking about it upstairs.

"Bella was assaulted by Jacob, he kissed her against her will and he was too strong for her." He admitted.

I got up to head upstairs and Carlisle said "Edward. There's more." His voice sounded so blunt, like the emotion in his voice was fear. Fear for the human girl asleep upstairs.

I sat back down and gasped as I was what Bella had told him in his mind.

The others did not know so he started to explain. "Once Charlie and Jacob had left, the boys and Alice were setting up a movie when Bella came up to the library where I was reading. She told me that that was the first time that had happened with her father, but not with her mother." Esme gasped as she understood what Carlisle meant. "Bella was hit by her mother at a young age, I've already spoken to Bella about it." She fell asleep with me in the library and I carried her into Edward's room so that she could sleep. About 15 minutes before you got home she had a nightmare and she was thrashing around in the bed. Jasper had to restrain her legs so she wouldn't hurt herself and we had to resort to using Jasper's mood control to calm her. She was murmuring in her sleep, calling for her 'dad'. When she woke up however, it turns out she was calling for me to keep her safe from Charlie."

At this I needed to be with Bella, I needed to hold her and the others didn't seem to object.

I raced up the stairs and into the bedroom.

"She's okay, Edward." Alice told me, placing her hand on my shoulder.

"I just worry about her, what if this causes long lasting damage?" I said, sitting down on the bed beside her.

"She will be okay, Edward, she will bounce back like she always does, think of all she's gone through already, if she can get through that she can get through anything. Most people think she's crazy, and they're pretty right! I mean, she's living in a house full of vampires." Alice said laughing, trying to lighten the mood.

"Thanks Alice." I said, smiling.

"We're downstairs if you need us." Alice said before walking out of the door and heading down the stairs.

I pulled the comforter further up the bed to cover Bella more and she turned over so that she could see my face.

"Everyone knows?" It wasn't a question it was a statement, she knew everyone knew.

"Yeah, but your fine, and your safe." I said

"You're not mad?" She asked, sounding surprised.

"I'm mad that I didn't get to break that dogs jaw myself, other than that I'm just glad you're safe, love. I love you." I responded.

"I love you too." She said before falling into a deep slumber.


	3. Chapter 3

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 3**

" _Everyone knows?" It wasn't a question it was a statement, she knew everyone knew._

" _Yeah, but your fine, and your safe." I said_

" _You're not mad?" She asked, sounding surprised._

" _I'm mad that I didn't get to break that dogs jaw myself, other than that I'm just glad you're safe, love. I love you." I responded._

" _I love you too." She said before falling into a deep slumber._

 **Bella POV**

I feel myself drift out of a deep slumber. I begin to wonder how long I have been asleep. I open my eyes slowly to reveal the incredibly bright room. Edward, who is now looking at me with a sorry expression, notices me squinting my eyes because of the brightness of the room.

"Sorry," he tells me, "I'll ask Esme if she can get some curtains to block out the brightness."

I smile up at him and mumble "morning." and he laughs and says "afternoon."

Afternoon? What time is it? Oh God how long did I sleep?

"Afternoon?" I asked sleepily, not sure of the time.

"Yes, love. Its 12:30, you have been sleeping for 12 hours, that nightmare must have really taken a toll on you."

I smiled at him sheepishly before excusing myself to shower and get a change of clothes. As I pulled on my long sleeved blue T-Shirt, I noticed the bruises around my right wrist where both Charlie and Jacob grabbed me. I walked out of the bathroom still looking at my wrists as Edward gets off the bed and comes over to me, taking his hand in mine. When I don't speak for a while it tends to worry Edward, as he can't read my mind.

 **Edward POV**

For a moment I thought she was going into shock. I thought that she might have some sort of panic attack from actually seeing the injuries that she had acquired from her best friend and her father. I pulled her to chest and wrapped my arms around her. And she did the same to me before pulling away and wrapping her arms around my neck. She stood upon her tiptoes wanting me to kiss her and I easily obliged. I picked her up from the ground and wrapped my arms around her waist so that she wouldn't have to reach up. We separated after a few moments and she giggled.

"You hungry?" I asked and she nodded. We headed down the stairs and towards the kitchen. When we entered the kitchen we found Esme hovering over the stove, after hearing our conversation upstairs.

It isn't long before Bella is presented with toast and bacon. Sometimes I completely forget that Bella actually needs to eat and I have to remind myself that she is human, for now.

At that moment Carlisle walks into the kitchen and kisses Bella on the forehead, "good afternoon Sweetheart, did you sleep okay?" he asked. Bella returns the good afternoon and tells Carlisle that she slept well. I could tell Carlisle was pleased at this news, to be honest, Carlisle had been worrying all morning that she was unsettled after the nightmare. Carlisle breaks the comfortable silence.

"Right, I am heading over to the hospital for a few hours, I should be home at around 5PM." He tells us. As he leaves he touches my shoulder, kisses Bella's forehead and walks around the kitchen island to kiss Esme and to tell her goodbye. Before he leaves, he tells all of the others, who are sitting in the living room goodbye.

 **Carlisle POV**

After wishing everyone goodbye I head through the back door into the garage. When Jasper told me about Bella's reaction to his new car I laughed, she had a point though, they are 'Cullen cars', we just need to be inconspicuous about it. I walk past the several cars in our garage: Alice's yellow Porsche 911 Turbo, Rosalie's red BMW M3, Emmett's Jeep, Edward's Volvo, the Aston Martin Vanquish, Jasper's silver 2 Series BMW, Esme's F-Type Jaguar in light blue and finally, my black Mercedes on the end, which generally meant that Rose had been tuning up my engine. Again. "Thanks Rosalie!" I said, knowing she could hear me. "You are very much welcome!" she replied. I pulled out of the garage and began to speed down our drive and down the main road into Forks. I began to think about Rosalie, ever since we came back, she has adjusted to living with the rest of us and now Bella, I think Bella is the one who is starting to get through to her, and her icy exterior is starting to melt.

Thinking of Bella, I remind myself that I need to talk to Charlie. I tap the screen on the dashboard and select the 'in car telephone' option. I entered the telephone number for the swan residence and waited for Charlie to answer the phone. On the sixth ring Charlie answered the phone.

"Hello", Charlie answered the phone.

"Chief Swan, It's Doctor Cullen." I answered.

"Oh, what is it Carlisle?" Charlie asked me quite rudely.

"I was just calling to let you know that Bella will be staying with us at the Cullen house until further notice. She does not feel safe at home with you or in Jacksonville with her mother, for obvious reasons."

"She will NOT Carlisle! She is a child and belongs at home with her father, I need to talk to her. Her mother knows what happened and will be contacting Bella later!" He retaliated.

"Charlie, you need to understand that she is 18 years old and she can do as she wishes, and she wishes to remain with us for the time being. To be perfectly honest I think she would be safer with us, she certainly feels it. You hurt her Charlie, not only does she have a bruise on her face she also has several bruises on her wrist where you grabbed them. How is she supposed to explain that to people Charlie? It's a good thing she doesn't have to go to school not they she's graduated." I attempted to keep anger out of my voice, but I am not sure it worked.

"Carlisle! You cannot keep me from seeing her!" Charlie shouted.

"This is her decision, Charlie, she doesn't want to see or speak to you." I told him.

"This is not happening, Carlisle!" Charlie shouted before hanging up.

My first thoughts after that… conversation, was that Charlie can be incredibly rude, that is twice in 24 hours that he has insulted my family and me. I had a feeling that Charlie was not going to give in on this, but me and Esme weren't either. We would protect her at all costs. I also needed to see Bella before her mother contacts her, even though I have a feeling she won't answer the phone anyway.

I continued along the main road to Forks before turning off at the exit to the hospital, I drove around the carpark and parked in the space marked 'C Cullen'. I got out of my car, locked it and headed to the main entrance of the hospital. I entered through the double doors and headed to my office, greeting the receptionist and the several interns by reception on the way past. I entered my office and set my coat on the hook and my brief case on my desk.

I logged onto the computer on my desk and opened my schedule for today. Today I was only working a short shift, from 1PM to 5PM. Hopefully I will be home before Bella's mother decides to call. As I get up to go and check on a meningitis patient on ward 3B I hear several nurses walking down the corridor talking, about me. Damn vampire hearing.

"You know, he never changes! He says he is 28 and I'm not hearing any of it! Then again, his wife is the same and so are his kids, they never change, ever!" one of the nurses said. Oh God.

"She has a point, I have worked here since Dr Cullen started working here, and he hasn't changed a bit in four years! It's amazing! I wonder how much plastic surgery he gets done. Then again, those boys of his are like supermodels! They are gorgeous! I bet he practices plastic surgery on them."

These weren't the first people I had overheard talking about the age of my family, and it was starting to worry me. So far I have been able to hide it from Edward as I knew how he would react if we told him we were leaving as it would mean him leaving Bella, again. But now I think about it, Bella might end up coming with us. After what has happened with Charlie and Reneé, I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to come with us and if she didn't, we wouldn't leave. The last time we left it pulled apart my family, and there is no way I am going to let my family get back to that. The last time we left Forks we hardly ever spoke: Edward was away from us hunting and tracking Victoria, Jasper spent his time alone feeling guilty about Bella's birthday party, Alice was torn between spending time with her love and her family, Emmett and Rosalie hardly ever spent time at home and Esme missed her family and her children. We drifted apart as a family and I am not going to let that happen again.

As I was walking to ward 3B I was thinking about our course of action. I decided to discuss it with Bella before her mother calls and then depending on what she says, I will call a meeting for the whole family.

 **Edward POV**

After Carlisle left, Bella finished her breakfast and we went into the living room to watch television. Emmett and Jazz were also sitting in there playing chess because Alice and Rose had gone shopping. Again. When we sat down, Bella snuggled into my side and I turned on the TV to an American sitcom. Bella wasn't really interested in the TV, so when Em and Jazz asked if they could turn it off to play a video game, she agreed.

After an hour of watching Emmett and Jasper playing the video game she asked them if they could teach her. She couldn't get the hang of it at first, but then after half an hour she was playing a game against Emmett. When Emmett won he was nearly jumping off the walls. The thing about Emmett is that he is a sore loser, but he also brags a lot when he wins. Bella didn't look shocked when he lost but decided to play along anyway…

"met'! I have human reflexes! It's not fairr!" She whined playfully.

"Bellaa! Oh well, you lost! Haha!" He whined back playfully.

Emmett sat back down on the sofa and we all started to laugh until Carlisle came into the house. I could tell he was worried about something, but he was translating the Federal Transparency Act into Japanese. Then I heard it, the people gossiping about us and our age, starting to debate whether Carlisle is the age he claims he is. It is happening all over again. Carlisle came over and sat on the sofa besides me and Bella.

"Bella?" Carlisle asked Bella.

"Yes Carlisle?" she replied kindly.

"Could I speak to you in my office?" he asked.

She nodded and got up, still holding onto my hand.

"Aren't you coming?" She asked when I didn't get up. I smiled and nodded before getting up to follow her to Carlisle's office. Her hand still in mine.

 **Bella POV**

Carlisle came in from work and asked to see me in his office. Edward and I got up to follow him to his office and he closed the door behind us.

I sat on the sofa alongside Edward and Carlisle sat on the other side of me. Carlisle had a worried expression on his face and so did Edward, now I was beginning to become worried.

Carlisle started speaking after a long pause.

"Bella, I spoke to your father earlier…" I trailed off.

I shivered slightly at the mention of Charlie and Edward pulled me closer, running his thumb over the back of my hand.

"What… what did he say?" I wondered.

"He said that he's told your mother what happened with him and what happened with Jacob, he said that your mom would try to call you tonight, I'm not sure what time. Theres also something else that we need to discuss" Carlisle told me, taking my hand that was resting on the couch.

Carlisle's voice became very serious and I knew that whatever he was about to say, I wasn't going to like.

"Bella, I don't want you to worry, but us Cullen's are starting to have a few problems, with our age and the people around town gossiping."

I knew where this was going before Carlisle even said anything else.

"You're all leaving again aren't you?" I said quietly.

Carlisle nodded, taking my other hand in both of his before he started to speak again.

"We have to Sweetheart. This time, however, it will be different." He told me soothingly.

"How will it be different? You'll all leave and I will become a mess like I did last time." I said quietly.

"It will be different, because this time we are not leaving unless you come with us." Carlisle said.

I was not expecting him to say that at all. I thought about it for a moment, I would be getting changed soon so we would have to leave anyway so that we wouldn't breach the treaty. Now that I no longer wanted any contact with my mother and father I don't see the problem leaving with the Cullen's.

"No, you can leave, I'll come too. I don't see the point sticking around here any longer, and you'll have to leave soon so that you don't breach the treaty."

Carlisle looked a little shocked.

"You… you don't want to reconcile with your father?" Carlisle asked.

I thought about it for a moment and I decided that I don't want to reconcile with Charlie, he hurt me and I don't want to go back to that.

"No, I don't, Charlie hurt me in more ways than one and so did my best friend. I don't want to speak or see my mother after what she did to me as a child, besides, I'm so much happier here, I have a family here."

Carlisle looked very happy before his face turned solemn once again.

"Bella, as for your mother, if you don't want to speak to her you don't have too Sweetheart."

He nodded his head and Carlisle got up and kissed my forehead, touched Edward's shoulder and left me and Edward in Carlisle's office.

 **Edward POV**

Carlisle left his office and left me and Bella to our own devices. Bella looked nervous about something.

"What's wrong, Love?" I asked her.

"I'm worried, not about leaving, about the change, it's getting closer." She told me nervously.

"Why, Love?" I asked her quietly.

"Not because of the actual pain itself, I want you to be the one to do it Edward." She told me shyly.

"You know the deal, Love, you marry me and I will change you myself." I told her.

 **Bella POV**

Of course I knew what the deal was. It was just that for me forever and eternity were different things.

"Edward?" I asked him.

"Yes, Love?" He replied.

"About this… condition…?" I asked again.

"What about it, Love?" Edward asked me.

"If… if, I was to marry you would it be kept low key, with Emmett getting a licence of the internet to marry us? I said.

"Bella, what are you saying?" He asked cautiously.

"I am saying that I accept your proposal. I will marry you." I told him.

He gasped. "You will?" he asked. By now he had a massive smile on his face and so did I.

"Yes, I will marry you." I told him confidently.

He stood up and he picked me up and he spun me around, hugging me.

"I love you!" He murmured into my neck.

"I love you too!" I told him.

"I'll be back in a second." He told me before pulling away and disappearing out of the room. He was back in less of a second with a blue velvet box in his hand. He got down on one knee in front of me and took a hold of my hand.

"Isabella Swan, I promise to love you every moment of forever. Would you do me the extraordinary honour of becoming my wife?" He asked me.

"Yes!" I said, unable to keep the smile off my face. He stood up and put the ring on my finger before kissing me firmly on the lips and placing his hands around my waist. I pulled away after a few minutes and giggled.

"Let's go downstairs and tell everyone, Fiancée." I whispered before pulling him towards the door.


	4. Chapter 4

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 4**

" _Isabella Swan, I promise to love you every moment of forever. Would you do me the extraordinary honour of becoming my wife?" He asked me._

" _Yes!" I said, unable to keep the smile off my face. He stood up and put the ring on my finger before kissing me firmly on the lips and placing his hands around my waist. I pulled away after a few minutes and giggled._

" _Let's go downstairs and tell everyone, Fiancé_ _e_ _." I whispered before pulling him towards the door._

 **Carlisle POV**

I left my office with the intention of going into the library to call Charlie, it wasn't until I realised that Rose, Emmett, Jasper and Alice were out hunting that I decided to go and find Esme so that we can make the call together. I walked down the stairs and found Esme in the living room curled up on the sofa reading a book. I sighed and walked over to the sofa to sit beside her.

"You going to call Charlie?" She asked me.

"Yeah, I have to. How much did you hear?" I replied.

"I heard that we are starting to have problems again and that we weren't going to leave unless Bella is with us, and I completely agree. The last time we tried it tore our family apart and there is no way that is happening again." She said.

"Well, none of that matters, she has agreed to come with us. Now all we need to sort out is the problem of her father." I told her.

"Yes I know, but after what Charlie did he surely can't be surprised that she doesn't want to see him." She told me calmly.

"I have no idea how I am going to be able to have a conversation with the man. I respect Charlie Swan greatly but this last fortnight he has been a constant thorn in my side. When I spoke to him on the way to the hospital this morning he was under the impression that he had done nothing with any he could not understand why _his_ daughter did not want to see him, it was completely ludicrous!" I cried.

"Carlisle, I think you need to call him after the others come home and we have had the meeting, it might make it a little easier when we actually have a plan." She said.

I nodded my head in agreement before she put the book down and snuggled into my side.

"Where have they all gone?" I wondered, I hadn't even heard them leave.

"Well, they noticed that I was reading so they decided to go into town to get takeout food for Bella. I have no idea what they'll come back with but they all seemed pretty excited to go and buy human food." She laughed.

"I'm sure that well find out soon enough." I said as I heard the roar of Emmett's jeep turn into the driveway.

"She sees you as her father you know." She said.

"I know, you have no idea how happy I was when I realised she was calling for me, I never thought I could love her as much as I do. I see her as a daughter, I love and cherish her as much as I do Rosalie and Alice." I admitted.

"I know you do, I do too." She replied.

It was then that the front door was swung open and in came Alice, Rose, Em and Jazz. Edward and Bella came down the stairs at the same time. Jasper and Emmett took Bella into the kitchen and started unpacking two paper bags of Chinese takeout.

"Alice, why are you smiling like a Cheshire Cat? I asked her laughing.

"You'll find out soon enough." She replied. Giggling before taking a seat on the sofa opposite the one Esme and I were sitting on. Jasper followed suit, coming over from the kitchen and sitting beside her. Emmett sat down on an armchair and pulled Rose down onto his lap. Then Edward and Bella came over and sat on the sofa next to Alice and Jasper.

"Okay, we have something that we need to discuss, all of us, I suggest that we take this conversation to the table in the dining room, we have much to do." I told them all and they all got up and made their way to the dining room.

I sat at the head of the table, as usual, with Esme to my left and Edward on my right. Bella sat next to Edward, then Emmett sat next to Bella with Rosalie at the other end of the table opposite me. Alice took a seat next to Esme and Jasper sat between Alice and Rosalie.

"Firstly, some of you already know this, but, it's time. The people in town are starting to doubt our ages and are noticing the fact that we never change. I'm trying to pass for 29 but it's just not cutting it. People are also starting to notice that you kids don't change either. I have been hearing people talking, doubting our ages. I mean, Alice and Edward are trying to pass as 19 and it's not going to work for much longer." I told them.

"Carlisle? Are you saying we have to leave? You can't be serious, what about Bella, look at what happened last time, it tore this family apart!" Emmett interrupted.

I nodded and smiled at him.

"Emmett that isn't going to be a problem because I have already spoken to Bella about this. She has agreed to come with us." I told him cheerfully.

"Wait, who already knew about this?" Rosalie asked.

"Esme, Edward, Bella, Myself and of course, Alice. Which reminds me, Alice what is the outcome now that we have decided to leave?" I asked her.

"It looks good, we will be able to leave before the end of July, which is 2 weeks away. Charlie shouldn't be much of a problem due to the news Bella and Edward have." She told me, grinning.

"What news?" Emmett asked, before I could.

Everyone around the table was now looking at Bella and Edward waiting for them to share the news with us.

"You mean you don't already know?" Bella asked suspiciously. Raising an eyebrow as she asked.

"No" I answered her, "Em, Jazz and the girls were out getting food and Esme and I were talking about what we are going to say to Charlie." I told her.

Bella sighed looking at Edward before lifting her hand and putting it on the table, on that hand was the Edwards mothers' engagement ring, the ring that he intended to give Bella when she agreed to marry him.

Esme gasped before getting up and encasing Bella and Edward in a hug, Emmett got up and hugged Bella, spinning her around in the process. Jasper gave a brotherly one armed hug to Edward and wrapped his arms around Bella. Rose stood up next and congratulated them before patting Edwards shoulder and hugging Bella. I was the last as Alice was too excited to do anything at the moment. I stood up and encased Bella and Edward in a hug before kissing Bella's forehead and putting my hand on Edwards shoulder and smiling at him.

"Congratulations to the both of you!" I told them both.

"Yeah! Bella is finally gonna be a Cullen!" Emmett said before putting one arm around Edwards's shoulders and one arm around Bella's.

"Shall we continue our discussion?" I asked after everyone had re-taken their seats.

Everyone nodded. Everyone had sat back down in the seats that they were sitting in previously, except for Rosalie who had now taken a seat on Emmett's lap.

"So, where do you think we should move?" I asked.

"I have seen us in a small town, kind of like Forks with a population of around 1000, it isn't sunny very often, and I can see Carlisle working at a hospital and the rest of us going to a high school there." Alice tells us.

"I have been thinking about this for a while," Esme admits, "I think we should move back to England. We have only lived there once and I think I found the perfect place on the Internet, I would just need to find a house with plenty of land." She says.

"Where is it?" Jasper asks.

"It's a place in England called Barmouth. It has a small population of around 1000 and it is close to the mountains and a National Park, there are an average of 44 sunny days per year. Also, as Alice said, there is a low staffed hospital and a college nearby, you wouldn't be going to a high school as children over the age of 16 go to colleges. It would be easily accessible if we fly." Esme tells us.

"What do we think?" I asked everyone.

Everybody took their turn to answer. Surprisingly.

"I like it, we could really make it work, it's inconspicuous enough, and because of the low population there will be less questions for us." Jasper said first.

"I think that the weather is really on our side as well, 44 days of sunshine per year will make less questions arise." Said Edward.

"I think as long as I can find us a house and get it sorted in time we should be fine, as long as there is a hospital and a high school I don't see a problem." Esme said.

Rosalie got up and sped off into the living room only to arrive a few seconds later with a tablet. She quickly searched for pictures of Barmouth and passed around the tablet once and had found some.

"I like it, the weather is good, I think we will attract less attention than we did when we came here, besides its pretty, and it snows a lot." Rose said.

"I agree with Rose, it would be a lot less noticeable if we moved to a place like this, besides, I would be able to work at a hospital again without the gossip." I said.

"I can't see any problems in the future, I see is settling in this place and being fine there, we enjoy life there." Alice said.

"I like it, wherever we have good hunting spaces in all in, I'm not really fussed as long as the animals are good." Emmett said.

"Bella what do you think?" I asked.

"I think it's beautiful, it looks amazing, I love it!" She said excitedly.

"So, let's vote!" I said, "All in favour, raise your hand." I said.

Everyone raised their hand and I smiled when everyone did.

"Okay then. It's the 8th of June and Alice said that we should be able to leave by the end of June, so the 30th, are we in agreement?"

Everybody nodded and as we all stood up the door was knocked.

Emmett and Jasper hissed and straight away I knew who it was. Charlie.

"Can you all please stay in here and keep quiet? He might be angry and he might try to hurt Bella again…"

"Dare him to try, he'll have to chief with one arm." Jasper mumbled.

"Jasper!" Esme chastised, looking guiltily at Bella.

"Sorry Bella, didn't mean it." Jasper said, at her side in a flash.

"It doesn't matter, Jazz." She told him, ruffling his hair.

"Am I getting the door then?" I said, taking a step towards the glass door.

Everybody said yes and I got up from the dining room table and went to answer the front door. When I opened the door, Charlie was incredibly angry, he barged past me and headed straight for the stairs.

"Hello Charlie, come in to our home."

Charlie completely ignored me and continued to make his way up the stairs.

As I followed Charlie up the stairs I could hear Emmett and Jasper arguing with Esme to let them into the living room to see Charlie.

"Emmett! Jasper!" I muttered under my breath, not loud enough for Charlie to hear.

Charlie stopped in the living room and turned around to face me, his expression livid.

"Where is everybody else?" Charlie asked.

"They are in the house somewhere, what is it you want Charlie?" I asked him back.

" _I_ want to see _my_ daughter!" Charlie shouted.

"Well, she doesn't want to see you Charlie! I have said this several times already!" I shouted back.

I attempted to keep my anger controlled within the presence of this man but he is really pushing my buttons.

"Everyone, could you come in here please?" I shouted, needing to at least make us look human.

Everyone came in from the dining room, led by Esme, Jasper and Emmett, shadowing Bella, Edward, Alice and Rose.

As soon as Charlie saw Bella he headed straight towards her, only to be blocked by Emmett and Jazz. I was so proud of the boys; they have taken her under their wings as big brothers.

"Let me see my daughter!" Charlie shouted.

"I don't want to see you Charlie!" Bella yelled, "You hurt me and for that I will never forgive you, you hurt me and now you have lost me, and you have nobody to blame but yourself!" Bella told him.

Charlie looked shocked. "I'm sorry, Bella." He said to her, his voice pleading.

"No Charlie, I have to tell you something and then you can leave." She said to him.

"What is so important Bella, seriously?" He shouted back at her, his voice dangerous.

"I am leaving Forks at the end of the month, for good." Bella told him.

"WHAT! No you are not! You need parents, you need your father!" He shouted back at her.

"You're wrong Charlie, the thing you are forgetting is that I have that. Here I have the most amazing father and mother, and the most amazing brothers and sisters, and I have Edward here. Charlie you can't stop me; I am going to be a member of this family whether you like it or not so you may as well learn to deal with it!" Bella said to him, calmly.

"What do you mean, a member of this family?" Charlie asked.

Bella raised her hand and showed Charlie the engagement ring on her hand.

"Edward and I are getting married!" She told him smiling up at Edward.

Charlie went red in the face, I thought he was going to snap.

Unexpectedly, Charlie turned around and made way for the stairs, only pausing to yell back "Do what you like, Bella!"

Charlie left slamming the door behind him and leaving us speechless in the living room.

"Bella, are you okay?" I was the first member of the family to reach Bella after Charlie left, the rest of the family were in a state of shock at Charlie's last statement. Bella sobbed into my shoulder as I lead her over to the couch, followed by Esme.

"we'll be outside if you need us." Emmett said as he put his arm on Edward's shoulder and lead him towards the back door, closely followed by Alice and Rosalie. Jasper was the last to leave the room as he continued to push calm and happiness at Bella using his gift.

"Bella, everything will be okay." Esme promised, running her hand over Bella's hair comfortingly.

"It will, Bella. Do you want to leave earlier or do you want to stay here for a while and try to get through to Charlie?" I asked her, cupping the left side of her face with my hand. I noticed that the bruise on the side of her face was beginning to fade, it would be gone in a few days' time.

"I think I want to leave as soon as possible, I don't think I could handle another argument with Charlie. We can discuss it with the others and see what they think?" Bella asked and I nodded, calling Edward, Emmett, Alice, Jasper and Rosalie inform the garden.


	5. Chapter 5

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 5**

" _Bella, everything will be okay." Esme promised, running her hand over Bella's hair comfortingly._

" _It will, Bella. Do you want to leave earlier or do you want to stay here for a while and try to get through to Charlie?" I asked her, cupping the left side of her face with my hand. I noticed that the bruise on the side of her face was beginning to fade, it would be gone in a few days' time._

" _I think I want to leave as soon as possible, I don't think I could handle another argument with Charlie. We can discuss it with the others and see what they think?" Bella asked and I nodded, calling Edward, Emmett, Alice, Jasper and Rosalie inform the garden._

 **Carlisle POV**

The others walked in through the back door when I called them in, Edward leading the group. Edward was the first person to reach Bella, he knelt in front of her and took her face in his hands. Edward whispered something in Bella's ear before kneeling a seat next to her, pulling her onto his lap after Esme and I stood up to talk to the group.

"I think we should leave earlier." I said and Esme nodded, "I agree, since Bella has sort of permission from Charlie and she is 18, I don't see any reason to wait, I need 3 days tops to sort out this house and sort out the other one." Esme said.

"Guys, is that okay with you?" I asked the group.

"Yes, I don't see any reason to stay around here now that my father has practically disowned me, we have all graduated now anyway." Bella said, a solemn but happy tone in her voice.

"I agree." Alice said, shooting a sympathetic glance at Bella.

"Okay then, we need to sort out job assignments if we how to be out of here by Friday." I said.

"I think we should work on our own rooms and Bella you will need to go to Charlie's to get everything that you want. I will pack up my office, go to the hospital to sort things through and I will sort out the plane tickets. Esme sort out the new house, Rose and Alice pack up the closets and sort out what we will donate when we leave. Em can you get transportation for the cars to get them across country, Jazz can you get the library and the main study sorted and start yours and Alice's room and if you have time help Emmett with the cars?" I asked them.

I went into the garage to get all of the cardboard boxes and all of our luggage cases for the clothes and shoes.

I bought them into the living room and we started to separate to our own individual tasks.

 **Edward POV**

I grabbed several of the cardboard boxes and headed up to my room, Bella was about to go to Charlie's whilst he was at work, so I was starting my room. I made my way up the stairs and placed the boxes into my bed. I started packing up all of my CDs and books that were in my bedroom. Within 15 minutes I had all of my CDs packed in boxes and they were in the living room. We were leaving the furniture underneath plastic sheets incase we ever came back to Forks, we would get new furniture for the new house anyway. I was so excited to be moving and not only because Bella was coming, I was excited because this is the place Bella would because my wife and a part of my family. Once I had finished packing my room, leaving the bed made for Bella to sleep for the next 2 nights. After I finished packing my room I went downstairs to find Esme. I found her on the laptop searching for a house.

"Esme. I'm not bringing the piano with us, can you order me a new one for the new house, please?"

"Of course, I'm doing the living room in the new house in light colours so are you okay with a white one?" She asked me.

"Yes that great, thanks." I hugged her and went back upstairs to find Alice, and to help her sort through my closet.

 **Bella POV**

I said goodbye to Edward before making my way through the house and into the garage where I found Rosalie tinkering underneath Edward's bonnet.

"Rose, any idea when you'll be done with the car? I need to borrow it?" I asked, leaning against the passenger door of Alice's canary coloured Porsche.

"About half an hour, you could use my car…" Rosalie offered.

"Oh…I…" I stuttered before jumping when Jasper appeared beside me, his arm outstretched.

"Take my car, I won't be using if this afternoon anyways ad Rosalie finished looking over it and getting jealous of it this morning." Jasper offered, putting his car keys into my hand.

"Thanks Jazz!" I hugged him before I walked out of the garage and to the space on the driveway where Jasper's car was parked.

"I was not!" Rosalie whined, hitting Jasper's arm and then laughing when he lightly pushed her back.

I got into Jasper's car and drove down the main road into Forks. I was driving to my father's house now because he was at work and I couldn't put up with any more arguments with my father. I pulled up outside my father's house and stopped the car. I walked up to the front path and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Charlie's cruiser parked in the driveway. _How could you be so unobservant! I thought he was at work!_

I contemplated turning back towards the car and going back home, but I realised that I may as well collect my things and say my peace whilst I was here. I took a deep breath before opening the front door, as quietly as I possibly could. Besides, if anything bad were to happen, I'm sure Alice would see it.

"What are you doing here?" A gruff voice greeted me from the living room.

"I came to collect my things, and then I'm going." I said, making a beeline towards the stairs.

"Nice car they've bribed you with." The jibe stopped me in my tracks. I turned around to face my _father,_ angry.

"Are you freaking kidding me! You strike your only daughter across the face and then you think that you have the audacity to come out with a remark like that! Not that I need to explain myself to you but the car is Jasper's, do you have anything else to say before I go upstairs?" I questioned, resting my hands on my hips.

Charlie scoffed at my question and muttered a remark about me being a ' _stupid waste of space'._ I took this as my opportunity to head upstairs to collect my things. I barely made it to the top step before the tears started. My head started to fill with images of my father striking me across the face again and again. I flung open my bedroom door and slammed it behind me, sliding down the back of the door and landing heavily on the ground. I was only on the ground sobbing before I was lifted into a bear hug by a familiar pair of arms.

"Shh, Bells your okay." Emmett said as he lifted me onto the bed and sat on the edge beside me.

I rested my head on his shoulder and continued to cry, Emmett stroked my hair and spoke to me whilst he waited for my sobs to stop. Eventually, my tears stopped and I say up straight.

"Thanks Em, where's Edward?" I asked. I was sure that Edward would be the one to come.

"He's at the house being restrained by Carlisle and Esme, Jasper is too. I was the only one calm enough to come." He said, standing up from the bed.

"Calm enough to… what?" I stuttered, confused.

"Bella, Alice saw what Charlie said and of course Edward saw it in her mind, I only just about caught him before he smashed through the window in his bedroom." Emmett laughed, and I laughed along with him knowing that was something that a typical Edward Cullen would do.

"Oh, okay. Why don't you go back over to the house and I'll be back over in a while?" I offered, knowing that he could run back to the house faster than I could drive.

"Nah, I'll help you and get a ride back if you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind, but you'll have to grin and bear with my speed, or lack of it." I joked, earning a laugh from Emmett.

"I don't mind, besides I haven't been in Jasper's new car yet." He said, reaching on top of my wardrobe and pulling down a suitcase that I had never seen before.

I looked at the suitcase for a moment before coming to a conclusion.

" _Alice!"_ I groaned, earning another laugh from Emmett.

Emmett helped me put everything that I needed into the suitcase before I zipped it up and lifted it off the bed.

"Wait, how are you getting out? Did Alice know whether he would say anything when I tried to leave?" I asked, frightened of Charlie that was sitting drunk downstairs.

"I'll go out the same way I came in, the window. And no, he won't say anything. Just walk down the stairs and out the door, I'll meet you in the car." Emmett assured me, climbing through the window and closing it behind him.

I smiled at my big brother's antics before I opened the door. I lifted my case and walked down the stairs and out the front door without saying a word to Charlie, who was now sitting in his dirty armchair surrounded my beer cans. I slammed the front door behind me and looked up to see Emmett leaning against the driver's door of the car.

"Nuh-uh… the deal was that I drive." I chastised, waving the key around in his face and grinning triumphantly when he missed.

"Hah! Human one, vampire zero!" I whispered as he took my suitcase from me and put it in the trunk of Jasper's car.

"Shush, Bella." Emmett sulked as he opened the passenger door and got inside.

I started the car, laughing at Emmett's childish pout that he had on his face for the majority of the trip home. We drove through Forks and soon I turned into the impossible-to-see driveway. Once I got to the house I parked the car back in the garage and entered the house. I put the bag down by the front door and I went into the house.

"Going to find Alice, thanks Em."

Emmett kissed my forehead before walking into the house, probably to find Rosalie.

"Hey Bella, you ready to go?" She asked me.

"Ready to go where?" I asked.

"Shopping!" She sing-songed.

"Yes!" I sing-songed back.

"Let's go then!" She said before grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the garage.

"Wait! I need to see Edward first where is he?" I questioned.

"Right here." I turned to where the voice came from and there he was, leaning against the kitchen doorframe. I didn't even have time to think before I was wrapped in his arms.

"Are you okay, love? I wanted to come to see if you were but they kept me here." Edward told me, rolling his eyes.

"Yes I'm okay, honestly, Emmett helped. I'll have to thank him when I return from hell." I said, nodding towards Alice that was practically bounding near the garage door waiting for us to leave.

"Well, have fun, my love. I'll be here when you get back." He kissed me before pulling away.

"Bye!" I managed to kiss him one more time before I was being dragged away by the pixie I call a sister.

"Thanks for letting me borrow your new toy, Jazz." I joked, throwing the keys in his direction.

He didn't even look up from the book he was reading, he just outstretched his arm and caught the keys in one hand.

"Show off…" I muttered, I looked up to see Jasper smirking in my direction.

We walked into the garage and opened the passenger door of her yellow Porsche for me to get in.

She walked around the other side and got into the drivers side and started the engine.

As we pulled into the car park of the mall, Alice handed me a black credit card.

"What's this for?" I asked her.

"It's from Carlisle, he wants you to get whatever you want from the mall, you are a Cullen now remember?"

"Alice, are you sure about this?" I asked, unsure.

"Yes! Of course Bella!" She smiled before getting out of the car, I got out of the other side and we met in front of the bonnet. She linked arms with mine and we walked towards the mall.

...

After walking around the mall for an hour and a half my arms were loaded with bags and I had to admit it, I was enjoying myself! As we were about to leave the mall Alice squealed and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the new Ted Baker store.

After an hour in Ted Baker I left with a Petal Print Scarf, and a pair of black Cordovan Leather Heavy Boots, I loved them and I was kinda forced to buy them by Alice…

Alice left Ted Baker with eight sweaters, seven new dresses and thirteen pairs of shoes. She was practically bouncing from the walls.

As we were leaving Alice dragged me into an Abercrombie & Fitch store. I ended up leaving with eight pairs of jeans, three jerseys, two sweatshirts, seven tees, and four pairs of leggings. Alice left with almost double what I had and we were laughing all the way back to the car.

When we arrived back at the house Edward carried everything to Alice's room so that she could pack everything, I did ask her to leave outfits for 2 days and a travel outfit consisting of a hoodie, a pair of leggings and grey low top Chuck Taylor's.

 **Carlisle POV**

After I bought the boxes into the living room I wished Esme goodbye and got into my Mercedes and drove to the hospital, I needed to speak with Dr Bailey to hand in my resignation.

I parked my car in my parking space and walked in through the double doors to the hospital.

I walked through reception and straight to Dr Bailey's office. I knocked on the door and he welcomed me in and offered me a seat.

"Dr Bailey, me and my family are leaving Forks and I'm here to hand in my resignation and clean out my office. I'm sorry it's so short notice."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that and it's really no problem, come back if you need to, you will always be welcomed back here Dr Cullen, I wish you and your family the best, Carlisle. I'm sorry but I must get to a patient, good luck Carlisle."

He walked from his office after wishing us well and I left the office as well. I walked down the hall to my office and I packed all of the personal belongings into my briefcase before closing it and walking out of the room, closing the door behind me.

I left through reception, saying my farewells to the receptionist and the interns at reception. Once I got into my car I sighed and present the button on the screen on the dashboard to turn on the in car phone. I dialled the number for the airline.

" _Hello?_ " A woman on the other end of the phone said.

"Hello, my name is Dr Cullen and I am looking to book 8 tickets to Heathrow Airport on the 13th June."

" _Yes, just give me a moment."_ The woman said.

"Thank you." I replied.

" _Dr Cullen, I have a flight from Seattle to London Heathrow on the 13_ _th_ _at 10:15AM. I only have 8 first class tickets, would you like to book them?_ " She asked.

"Yes please, I would like to reserve them online and then pay for them at the airport, I would also like to pay for fast track."

" _Yes that's fine Dr Cullen, your reservation number is HL8365 and your flight number is BA2109, thank you for booking with us Dr Cullen, goodbye._ "

"Thank you, goodbye."

I ended the phone call and I turned on the radio on a low volume. I listened to the radio until I returned home, I pulled the car straight into the garage and when I stepped out and closed the door, Esme was there waiting for me.

"How did it go?" She asked.

"It went very well, I don't think that the amount of staff will be a problem, there are too many staff already." I told her.

"Good, I'm relieved." She said.

"Okay, I'm going to start sorting out my office and then help Jasper if he needs any help in the library." I told her.

I kissed her briefly before taking off up the stairs and heading into my office to sort through all of the books and medical texts that I was taking with us.

 **Esme POV**

Since Carlisle had gone to the hospital to sort out the moving situation, I had opened up the laptop and started to search for possible houses for us. As it was a small town most of the houses are small and in the same place. I was looking for around an hour and a half before I came across a large, modern 7-bedroom house just outside of the main town, it was a bold house with a large open plan living space on the ground floor, with a large glass wall along the back and side wall and a deck around the back, 4 bedrooms on the second floor along with 2 empty rooms for offices and study's. The last remaining 3 bedrooms were on the top floor along with a gym, music room and a further 2 empty study spaces. It seemed perfect. It was surrounded by woodland just like this house in Forks so privacy shouldn't be a problem, the price was also perfect too, it was on the market for $1.1 million dollars.

I printed off all of the information and pictures about the house and decided to call the real estate agent.

After 1 hour and 15 minutes on the phone, we now owned a house in Barmouth, and it could be moved into on the 13th if they mailed the keys to us, it would take 2 days with a messenger.

I could not wait to tell Carlisle and the others, they will be so excited!

I decided that I might as well get mine and Carlisle's room sorted out to I grabbed some of the boxes from the living room and headed upstairs to get started.

 **Rosalie POV**

I was going through the process of helping Alice pack up the closets. I had just finished packing mine and Emmett's room so I decided it was time to start helping Alice. We started with mine and Emmett's closet as it was large, but smaller than Alice's and Jasper's. Alice came into my room with 4 Vuitton suitcases and 2 hold-alls. She opened one of the cases and told me that all of my jeans, trousers and shorts needs to go in it, she then opened another and told me that this was for all of my blouses, tees and shirts, she placed a hold-all near my feet and told me that it was for any pyjama-like clothes and lingerie. Alice also bought up several garment bags for my dresses. I packed my clothes whilst Alice did Emmett's. Alice had also bought up several cardboard boxes for items we would be donating.

Once we were finished with mine and Em's closet and all of the bags were downstairs we started on Edward's closet. Since Bella's things were already downstairs it didn't take long. Alice had the same technique for Edward's closet. She bought up 2 suitcases and 2 hold-alls. A suitcase for tops and shirts, another for jeans, trousers and other pants. A hold-all for shoes and another for underwear and other things. It only took about 15 minutes for us to pack up Edward's closet and when his cases were downstairs we started on Esme's and Carlisle's closet. Alice had the same packing technique for their closet also. It took us the longest to do Alice and Jasper's closet. Mostly because it was the biggest of all of them. Alice needed 9 suitcases, 6 hold-alls and 18 garment bags for all of her clothes and shoes, and Jasper had about half as many as Alice did. By the time we had finished it was 8pm and it had taken us 5 hours to empty all of the closets and put all of the cases and hold-alls downstairs in the living room.

 **Emmett POV**

I was put in charge of getting all of the cars to Bristol Bay, I liked this job, it was the job I had to do every time we have to move. But first I needed the address for the new house, I needed to find Esme.

I finally found her in her room sorting through old blueprints and papers.

"Esme? What is the address for the new house?" I asked her.

"Uh, the address is 186 Bonneville Lane, Barmouth, North Wales, England." She answered.

"Thanks mom." I flew back down the stairs to get my cell phone. I dialled the number for the moving service.

" _Hello?"_ The man on the other end of the phone said.

"Hello, my name is Emmett Cullen and I need a car carrier for 8 cars on the 13th June at 8AM, you should have my address on record." I told him.

" _Emmett Cullen, Forks?"_ He asked me.

"Yeah, that's the one." I said.

" _Okay, what is the address of there the vehicles need to be taken and I need to know what the vehicles are for insurance purposes."_ He asked.

"They need to be taken to Seattle airport, my dad will give you all of the required documentation when you collect the cars on the 13th. The vehicles are a Porsche 911 Turbo, a BMW M3, a Jeep, a Volvo XC60, a 2 Series BMW, a Jaguar F-Type, and a Mercedes Benz C-Class and an Aston Martin Vanquish." I told him.

" _That is a very impressive selection of vehicles Mr Cullen."_ He said sounding very impressed.

"Uh, Thank you." I said in return, slightly awkwardly.

" _So, Mr Cullen, I will have an 8 vehicle loading truck at your address at 8AM to take them to Seattle Airport?"_ He asked.

"Yes that is correct." I replied.

" _Thank you for choosing our services, goodbye."_ He said.

"Bye." I said before hanging up and heading upstairs to see if anyone needed any help.

 **Alice POV**

It took me and Rose much less time than I expected to sort out and empty the closets. Everything was stacked up by the front door downstairs and ready to go, the removal people will be arriving at 8AM so that they will be there the same time we get there. I am so excited, not just because we are moving, but because Bella is coming with us! After I finished the closets I decided to make a start on mine and Jazz's room. There wasn't much to pack. I just needed to pack our laptops and mine and Jaspers iPads. I also needed to pack all of our laptop chargers and everything else. I also needed to pack all of my perfume and makeup but I have a small hold-all for it.

 **Jasper POV**

I walked into our library and it hit me that this was going to take forever. I went downstairs and got several cardboard boxes and started to stack all of Carlisle's medical texts and then Edward's medical and psychology texts as well. I then started to pack up all of the laptops used for both illegal and legal activities. I then packed up the highly upgraded laptops that I use to make the fake IDs and documents. I went back down stairs and asked Alice if she had any boxes, she handed me a clear plastic box with a lid that I used to put all of the laptop chargers and wires in. After I had packed up everything we needed from the library and the study I went downstairs and started packing up mine and Emmett's games consoles, with the wires, controllers and games into a box. I then placed all of these boxes next to the suitcases and other boxes by the front door. 2 more days and we would be leaving Forks for a century.


	6. Chapter 6

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 6**

 _I then placed all of these boxes next to the suitcases and other boxes by the front door. 2 more days and we would be leaving Forks for a century._

 **Bella POV**

I woke up to the brightness of Edward's room again this morning. I love staying here and now I would be living with the Cullen's for the rest of eternity. Heck I was about to become one!

I opened my eyes slowly and looked up to Edward's face smiling down at me.

"Morning, Love." He said.

I smiled at him shyly.

"Good morning, is everyone still packing?" I asked him and he nodded.

"I think everyone is finished except Alice who is still putting all of her shoes in the correct boxes before they go into a large box and down into the living room."

"Okay, I will see if she needs any help when I'm awake." I said and he laughed.

Just then my cell phone rang. Again. I had 6 missed calls from my mother. None of which I intend to call her back for. I didn't want to speak to my mother or father and I think I made that quite clear to Charlie. I became so angry when he came over, how dare he judge or comment on the Cullen's. It was completely out of order, and I don't care that he doesn't care what I do, I think I will be happier with him out of my life. Of course I will miss him but he hurt me, and for that I will never forgive him.

Just then Jasper knocked the door and stepped inside, obviously sensing my emotions. He had a confused look on his face and I could tell why, my emotions were very messed up and uncertain.

Edward got up from the bed beside me and kissed my forehead, telling me that he was going to make me a cup of tea. I nodded and he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Jasper came and sat down beside me on the bed and my phone rang again, this time it was a withheld number.

 **Jasper POV**

"Hello?" Bella asked.

" _Hey, Bella! It's Phil."_ The man on the other end of the phone said and she froze.

I held my hand out for the phone and she placed the cell phone in my hand, I raised it up to my ear.

"Hello?" I said, keeping the harshness out of my voice.

" _Who is this, I want to speak to Bella!"_ He shouted at me.

"This is Bella's brother, who is this?" I asked him in an attempt to keep calm.

" _Brother?"_ He asked confused, " _This is Phil, Renee's husband and I want to know why Bella is intentionally telling a lie to hurt her mother?!" He said._

"How dare you? How dare you call my little sister a liar?" I shouted at him, letting all of the harshness into my voice that I wanted to keep back. "If you try to contact my little sister again I will come for you, do you understand me?" I snarled. I hung up the phone and held Bella's crying form to my chest.

Just then Edward came through the door and saw Bella. He put the tea on the sideboard and came and kneeled in front of her.

"What happened?" Edward asked me.

"Her stepfather called, she froze, I took the phone and he told me he wanted to know why she was telling a lie to intentionally hurt her mother, she heard everything. I hung up when I threatened I would come for him if he hurt my sister again."

He smiled at the threat and then focused on Bella.

"Bella?" He said.

"Edward!" She exclaimed before throwing her arms around his neck. He laughed and started rocking her side to side.

' _I'm going to head downstairs, call if you need anything."_ I thought and Edward nodded, hearing the statement.

"Bella do you want one of us to have the cell phone, that way we will know if there's an emergency." Edward asked me.

"Yeah, I think that would make me feel better. Who would have it though?" I wondered.

"I'll take it, Darlin'." I told her as I slipped it into my pocket and she nodded. I left the room, closing the door behind me.

 **Bella POV**

Jasper left the room after taking my cell phone, closing the door and leaving me and Edward sat on the bed.

"So, what's everyone doing today?" I asked.

"We are taking around all of the things we are donating. Do you want to help?" He asked.

I nodded and snuggled further into his side.

"We will all be leaving in about half an hour so I will go downstairs and let you get ready." He told me.

"Okay, I won't be long." I told him.

He kissed my lips before getting up and leaving the bedroom.

It took me around 20 minutes to get ready, I put on the outfit Alice left out and curled the ends of my hair. I left the room and walked down the stairs, everyone was sitting in the living room waiting for me.

 **Carlisle POV**

Everyone including Bella was now sitting on the sofas in the living room waiting for instructions.

"Esme and I will be taking all of the remaining food except for a few things to the shelter, we will be taking all of the fruit and vegetables from Esme's garden also." I told them first. "There are a lot of clothes and other various things that need to be taken. I think we should split up you 6, 3 of you go to one clothing shelter and 3 to the other. So, Emmett, Jasper and Rose go to one and Edward, Bella and Alice go to the other." Everyone nodded and waited for me to continue speaking.

"Then when you come back here, Jasper and Emmett can take the TV and the games consoles we aren't taking to that children's home on the other side of town, agreed?" I asked

Everyone said yes and we went to put the different boxes I the different cars. Most of our cars were sports cars so we decided that Em, Rose and Jasper would take Jasper's BMW and Rose's BMW because they have the bigger boot space. We then put the TV and the consoles into the back of Emmett's Jeep for him to take later. We also decided that the other three would use Edward's 4X4 Volvo and my Mercedes, again because they have the largest space in the boot. Esme and I would use the Vanquish because it still had a big enough boot for the food items we were taking to the shelter.

Once all of the cars were packed up we all headed down the drive and in different directions.

 **Emmett POV**

Me and Rose got into her red BMW and sped off down the drive, with Jasper following closely behind in his silver BMW. We were heading to the homeless shelter that was about half way to Seattle. But, as we are vampires we can go above the speed limit and get away if we are caught, most of the time anyway. Now that the Cullen's were practically at war with Charlie, I get the feeling that he would not let us off with a warning. When we were about ¾ of the way to the shelter, which was about 45 minutes away, Jasper spoke. Even though he was in the car behind us we could still hear him.

"Em, there are cops about half a mile away, somebody reported 2 cars speeding when we passed through the last town. We either need to stop or speed up do that we can outrun them." He said.

I didn't even have time to think about it before Rose spoke up.

"Speed up, we are only about a mile away, we should be able to outrun them meaning as they don't know what they are looking for, Jazz stay behind a little, meet us there." Rosalie said.

"Okay." Jasper said as he took his foot off the gas and Rosalie sped up so we could get ahead of Jasper.

After about 5 minutes we got to the shelter and waited in the car for Jasper to arrive. 5 minutes later Jasper pulled into the parking lot and got out of his car. I opened the trunk using the button and followed Rose out of the car.

 **Jasper POV**

I arrived at the shelter a few minutes after Rosalie and Emmett. They were still waiting in the car when I arrived. I opened the trunk using the button on the dashboard and got out of the car. I hate doing things like this, we have to act human, pretending that the boxes are heavy and that both Emmett and I need to carry them so we don't give away our _superhuman_ strength. I walked over to Emmett and Rose.

"Shall we do your car first and then come and do mine, Rose can you go in and do the registry thing so we can donate them?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure." She said before heading in the direction of the door to the shelter.

 **Rosalie POV**

I entered the homeless shelter. To be perfectly honest I hated places like this but now I was there I realised that I liked helping people, this is how Carlisle must feel when he works out of the hospital. I got an immense feeling of happiness and pride, thinking about helping people and thinking about Carlisle and the rest of my family. I was proud to call myself a Cullen, even though my 'real' surname is Hale, both me and Jasper are Cullen's.

I walked over to the desk where a woman was sitting, I looked at her name badge, her name was Karen.

"Hello, I have 7 boxes of clothes and shoes that I would like to donate." I said in a kind manner.

"Name?" She asked quite rudely.

"Rosalie Hale, Dr Carlisle Cullen's daughter." I replied.

She looked up from her papers and looked at me with a shocked expression on her face. What is it now? And why was she so shocked to see me here?

"Sorry, Miss Cullen." She said nervously.

"Hale! Rosalie Hale!" I snapped.

Just then Jasper and Emmett walked in with 2 of the boxes, both of the boys carrying them and pretending that they found them heavy. I had to smile a little at that, it was kind of funny watching them try to struggle.

When the bell rang to signal somebody entering the rude woman looked up to see who it was. She looked up and when she saw Jasper and Emmett standing there she went pale and she looked very nervous. She looked nervously at Emmett's broad shoulders and Jasper's scary expression and she looked like she was about to pass out. I had to do something.

"Right, these are two of the boxes and the rest of them are in the car still. I will help you boys grab them." I said to her with a kind expression on my face. She nodded slowly, still looking like she was going to pass out.

I followed the boys out to the car.

"You two get the rest from my car and I'll start unloading them from Jasper's." I said and they both agreed. They started carrying in the boxes one at a time and I carried in one from Jasper's car.

Once all of the boxes were inside I took a smaller box from the backseat of the car and took it inside. I placed it on the counter and the woman looked up at me.

"This box contains some jewellery, some of it gold and some of it silver. There are also a few designer pieces in there and a platinum Cartier watch. We thought it would be best to put them separately, you could sell them then and raise some money for the shelter or another charity." I told her and she looked speechless.

"Thank you, you have no idea how much this will help. Can you send on my thanks to your parents as well, I look forward to seeing Carlisle at the hospital so I can thank him personally?" She told me.

"Carlisle won't be at the hospital. He resigned, we are leaving Forks tomorrow morning and moving to somewhere else." I told her solemnly, attempting to make myself sound upset. I wasn't upset at all; I couldn't wait to leave this god forsaken place.

"Oh okay then, could you pass my regards to your parents for me please? Have a nice day." She said.

"I will and thank you." I said.

I walked out of the shelter and back to the car. Jasper and Emmett were waiting by the car; Jasper was leaning against my bonnet.

"Jasper get off my bonnet now or you're buying me a new car." I said before getting into the car. Jasper laughed and headed for his own vehicle. Putting the key into the ignition before reversing and driving out of the parking lot.

"God, Bella's got to me, I'm going soft." I said to Emmett.

He laughed and started the car. Putting it into reverse before getting back on the road to get home.

 **Alice POV**

Edward, Bella and I headed off in the opposite direction if Rose, Emmett and Jasper. We were heading to the clothing collection centre that was just outside of Forks. We were only taking 4 boxes with us since only Edward would be carrying them. On the way there I decided that I needed to take another shopping trip since there were no good malls for miles where we were moving. And I would need to do it as soon as we move.

 **Edward POV**.

I drove the Volvo towards the shelter, with Bella sat beside me in the passenger seat. I could hear Alice's thoughts, about her shopping trip with the girls in a few weeks' time, driving Carlisle's black Mercedes with the tinted windows. The car all of us, except Carlisle, only used on a rare occasion if we needed to travel and it was sunny outside.

As we travelled down the main road out of Forks, Alice following closely behind us, Bella has a very curious, yet excited look on her face.

"Penny for your thoughts, Love?" I asked her.

"I'm really excited, but a little apprehensive about tomorrow? Can I ask some questions?" She asked me.

"Of course, Love." I told her sweetly.

"Okay, what time will the removal vans and the car courier be arriving?" She asked.

"Both are scheduled to arrive for eight and they will be packed up and on the road by eight-forty-five Both the removal vans and the cars are due to arrive at the Airport around an hour and forty-five minutes before we do." I told her.

"What time will we be arriving back home later? If you want me to be functioning tomorrow I need sleep." She joked.

"Uh, we will be arriving back at the house once we have finished up here, so around 12PM." I said.

"Alice is thinking about whether you want to go shopping soon?" I asked her, knowing the response I was going to get already.

"Alice!" Bella moaned "we went shopping like two days ago!" Bella whined knowing that Alice could hear her in the car behind.

I heard Alice's reply and told Bella, "She said that there are no good malls where we are moving so we need to get it done now, she says she won't be going shopping for a while and you won't be either depending on when you want to be changed."

"Oh, alright." Bella sighed.

"What's wrong Bella?" I asked.

Bella looked at me surprised and I laughed.

"What?!" I asked.

"You hardly ever call me Bella anymore, I kind of forgot what it sounded like." She admitted.

"Do you want me to call you Bella?" I asked her incredulously.

"No, I prefer what you call me now." She smiled at me.

"Well you have the rest of eternity to decide." I told her.

"Speaking about that…" Bella droned off.

"Yes…"

"Now that I have agreed to marry you, are you going to change me?" She asked unsure.

"Yes, but now you need to decide whether you want to get married human or get married as a vampire." I told her.

She sat in silence for a few minutes thinking about it.

"I think I would rather get married as a human, but then wait until I'm a vampire until we… you know, then you won't have to worry about hurting me." She said, almost confidently.

"Whatever you want, Love." I told her, taking my eyes from the road to look at her for a moment.

"Edward, what I want right now is for you to stop gawking at me and to keep your eyes on the road, you know I hate the way you drive and the speed you drive at. If I remember correctly I was raised to abide to the speed limit by a police chief." She told he raising an eyebrow in my direction.

I laughed a little but she did have a point, even though I don't like to admit it, I am driving 40 miles per hour over the speed limit.

"You know you are never in danger, Love, you will always be safe as long as I'm driving." She scoffed a little and looked in my direction raising her eyebrows at me.

"Slow down, Cullen." She told me.

"Whatever you like soon-to-be Cullen." I told her back.

She smiled at me once I had said it and I had to admit I loved the sound of that.

"I love the sound of that." She told me beaming at me. She reached over and took one of my hands off the wheel. I looked at her with a mocked startled look on my face.

"Miss Swan! I thought you were raised to abide the driving laws! You aren't allowed to do that remember." I said in a mock horrified tone.

"Screw the laws, I know I am safe whenever I'm with you, I know full well that I could be in a helicopter crash or a plane crash and I would come from it unscathed." She said.

We sat in the car for a few minutes in a comfortable silence. Holding each other's hand with my other hand resting in the steering wheel and her other hand resting on her thigh.

"Bella?" I asked her with a certain level of uncertainty in my voice.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"You know I'll never let anyone hurt you right? That I will protect you at all costs?" I asked.

"I know, and I love you more and more for it, I love you so much." She said back.

I love it when she tells me that she loves me. It's like every day I fall in love with her again.

"I love you too." I told her before raising her hand and kissing it.

 **Alice POV**

We arrived at the shelter about 15 minutes after we left the house. During the trip there I was planning the shopping trip I would be doing on when we have moved, as I intend for my closet in England to be bigger than my one here in Forks. We pulled into the small slip road for the shelter and Edward and I parked the cars. The three of us got out of the cars after pressing the buttons on the dashboards to open the trunks of the cars.

Bella and I walked over to the front door to the shelter and over to the desk. A young girl, who looked like she would rather watch paint dry, sat behind the small desk reading a magazine.

"Hi!" I said in my usual bright voice.

The girl reading the magazine did not even look up from what she was reading, which I thought was incredibly rude.

"Excuse me!" I screeched, causing Bella and Edward, who had now carried in all four boxes from the cars, to laugh out loud.

The girl looked up from her magazine and was taken aback by the look on my face.

"What?" She shouted at me.

"I was under the impression that you actually wanted donations! Not that you were turning away clothing!" I shouted back at her.

"We do; it depends who it is from!" She moaned.

"Alice Cullen!" I shouted at her.

The girl went as white as a ghost, she actually looked frightened, I mean I don't think I look that scary, except for the pale skin of course.

"Dr Cullen's daughter?" She asked cautiously.

"Yep, that's me, and his son Edward is over there with Bella."

The girl looked from me straight to Edward at the mention of his name. I could see the lust in her eyes and she wasn't even bothering to try and cover it up. I cleared my throat and she did not even look at me, her eyes fixated on Edward.

"Excuse me! Have you finished gawking at my brother who is standing over there with his fiancé?" I asked her.

The young girl finally took her gaze off of Edward and looked at me.

"What is it you would like to donate?" She asked me in a put on sickly sweet voice.

"We have four boxes of clothes over there. The box with the X on the top has the designer clothes that I don't want any more in it." I told her.

She looked at me startled.

"You are giving designer clothing to charity? Why on earth would you do that?" She asked me harshly.

I was about to speak up but Bella butted in and spoke instead. I could tell she was pissed.

"The Cullen's are a very generous family; why shouldn't they give designer clothes to charity? Would you rather they burn them?" She asked the girl harshly.

The girl was taken aback by the tone of anger and annoyance in Bella's voice.

"Uh…uh, I don't know I didn't mean to cause any offence, it is very generous of you." The girl said sheepishly with her head lowered in shame.

"The boxes are over there, thank you." I said before walking towards the door pulling Bella with me.

Once we were standing in front of the cars I pulled Bella into a hug. I very rarely see Bella get angry, but she was incredibly angry at the girl who had just practically insulted her family.

"Thanks Bella." I told her genuinely.

"No, I should be the one thanking you." She said back.

I pulled back from the hug to look at her.

"Why do you need to be thankful to me Bella?" I asked confused.

He smiled before answering me. "Because you showed her who was boss when she would not stop looking at Edward."

I laughed along with Bella until Edward came out of the shelter with his hands in his front pockets. He came over and put his arm around Bella's waist, pulling her close.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"I'm fine, are you okay?" She asked smiling and laughing, it was like she knew what his response would be.

"I don't think I could cope if I ever had to be in a mile of that girl again, she's crazy." He said chuckling.

"Shall we get back?" I asked.

"Yeah." They both droned in reply.

"Okay then, I'll see you both back at the house, we still have work to do remember!" I chirped.

 **Esme POV**

Carlisle and I had just returned to the house after dropping off the food to the shelters, by the looks of it Emmett and Jasper had also completed their second run and taken the TV and other electronics to the children's home for them to enjoy. As soon as we pulled into the garage we knew something was wrong, the house was almost silent except the steady beating of Bella's heart.

I walked into the living room to find everyone sitting on the remaining sofas.

"Okay, what happened?" I asked them.

Nobody answered until Emmett came bounding down the stairs.

"Emmett?" I asked him.

"Alice is angry because of the rude girl who was ignoring her and hitting on Edward, which is also why Bella is in a bad mood. Rose is upset because if the rude woman at the shelter we went to. Edward is in a bad mood because if him having to hear everybody's angry thoughts and Jasper is angry because he is having to feel everybody else's emotions. Oh and I'm fine." He said with a massive smile on his face.

"Right then, Jasper I know this is annoying but can you try to make everyone a little calmer so I can speak for a few moments?" I wondered.

He nodded his head and a few moments later everybody seemed less angry.

"Okay, it's 8PM now so, Bella are you tired?" I asked her.

"Yeah I am a little, I might try and sleep or I probably won't be able to function properly." She said before getting up off Edwards lap and coming to hug both Carlisle and I whispering 'thank you, for everything' before setting off for the stairs.

Once she had gone Carlisle spoke up.

"So everybody knows what is going down tomorrow? Our flights are not until 10:15 and it won't take us long to get to Seattle Airport. If we leave the house at 8:30 that will give us enough time to get to the airport and check in. The courier and 6 removal vans are arriving at 8AM so that will also give us enough time for them to pack up the vans and for Edward, Em and Rose to get the cars on the courier, leaving at this time will also give Bella time to speak to Charlie is she wishes to."

They all nodded in agreement before we all separated in different directions. Alice went to sort out everyone's moving outfits for tomorrow, Jasper retreated into the library to pack up the rest of the books, Rose and Emmett went into the garage to do some work on Edwards car, Edward went up the stairs to be with Bella and Esme and I started packing up the rest of the living room and putting the clear sheets on the furniture.


	7. Chapter 7

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 7**

 **Carlisle POV**

Bella came downstairs the next morning at 7:30 to a madhouse. Everybody was rushing around picking up last minute items and covering furniture with clear plastic sheets. I however, was sitting in the living room in an armchair reading a book and waiting for the removal vans to arrive. Bella came and sat down in the armchair opposite mine.

"Bella?" I asked her.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"I don't want you to be upset but do you want to speak to or see Charlie before we leave?" I asked cautiously.

She shook her head. "No, I don't want to speak to him, Charlie will never accept me for what I want to be, I want to marry Edward and become a member of this family, and Charlie will not accept that. Besides, after what he said the last time I saw him he'll be lucky is I acknowledge him again" She told me with sorrow in her eyes.

I stood up and pulled her into a hug, which didn't last that long because I heard the removal vans pulling onto the drive. A few minutes later the one of the drivers knocked on the door, I opened it and I saw a man who wished he was still in bed and not driving to Seattle at this time of the day.

"I have 6 vans here do you want help loading them up?" He asked me.

I hated to do this but we needed to be out of here and we needed to do it at human speed to make sure they don't suspect anything.

Everybody gathered in the living room and all of us except for Edward, Rose and Emmett started loading the boxes, clothing bags and furniture into the removal vans. As we were starting to fill the first van the courier for the cars pulled onto the drive and parked in front of the garage as directed by Emmett.

 **Emmett POV**

Me, Edward and Rosalie gathered in the garage when the courier had arrived, it was decided that we would drive the cars into the courier because we, well Rose, didn't trust them with our cars.

"How are we going to do this?" I asked.

"I'll put up mine and Jasper's BMW's first, but I think you should put on Edward's Volvo and your Jeep on first because they are the heaviest. Then Edward and I can share putting on Alice's, Esme's and Carlisle's cars and Emmett you put on the Vanquish after." She suggested.

I put the key into the ignition of the Jeep and loaded it onto the top row of the courier lorry. After it was loaded, I secured it in place using the ties and the ropes that you attach to the wheels. I put the key in my pocket and climbed down the ladder on the side of the lorry instead of jumping down. I hurried back into the garage where I took the key for Edward's Volvo off of the hook. I unlocked the car and got into the driver's side, then I started the engine. I pulled out of the garage and loaded the car onto the bottom row of the courier. Again, I secured the car to the lorry using the ties to the wheels and getting off the lorry.

 **Rosalie POV**

I put the key into the ignition of my BMW, and drove out of the garage. It was decided that both of the BMW's would go on the bottom of the courier lorry because Alice didn't want her car on the bottom.

I parked the car behind Emmett's Jeep and secured it to the lorry using the ropes that you attach to the tires. I jumped down from the ladder when nobody was looking and ignored the disapproving glare from Carlisle. I walked back into the garage and took the keys for Jaspers BMW from the hook. I got into the car and I realised that I hadn't actually taken a look at Jasper's engine yet, no doubt it will sound worse than mine does and mine is nearly a year and a half older.

I stated up the engine and I was right, mine sounds better. As I am loading it onto the courier I make a mental checklist on what to check on when we arrive at the new house.

' _Check the water levels and the oil sounds a little low.'_ I thought, see, superhuman hearing does have its perks.

Again, once Jasper's car was secured to the lorry I got off, by climbing down the ladders this time.

I walked back into the garage to find that I was to be loading the Vanquish onto the lorry because Edward had others to do and Emmett didn't like driving it. I would do it after Edward did the others.

 **Edward POV**

I took the keys for Alice's, Esme's and Carlisle's cars off of the hook and put two of them in my pocket. I looked down to my hand and saw that I would be moving Alice's car first.

I walked over to Alice's car and got into the driver's side, and put the key in the ignition socket. I had to move the seat of the Porsche back because it was supposed to fit Alice's pixie legs.

"God this car is small." I said, hearing a chuckle from Carlisle and Emmett.

" _Yeah and? It's small it's the perfect car for me!"_ Alice thought and I chuckled.

I reversed the car out of the garage and lined it up with the lorry to load it onto the top shelf.

"Edward if you hurt my car I will make you very sorry!" Alice said and I laughed out loud.

"Do your worst Alice!" I said trying to provoke her, everything she had on me she used years ago.

I parked the Porsche on the lorry and secured it before stepping off and heading back into the garage. I took the key to Esme's Jaguar and got into it, Esme's car was the fastest out of everybody's and I had no idea why because she never used it, she used it so rarely I didn't even need to re-adjust the seat. Again I lined up the car, pulled it onto the courier and secured it using the ropes and ties that are attached to the tyres. I jumped down and went back into the garage and over to Carlisle's Mercedes. I got in and started the car, before reversing it out if the garage and pulling it onto the courier lorry. Carlisle's was the last car that needed to be loaded on because Bella's truck stopped starting a few weeks ago, Besides, one of the marriage conditions was for her to let me buy her a new car.

I secured Carlisle's car onto the courier and got off the lorry. I walked back into the garage to close it to find Emmett and Rose.

"Carlisle told us to give the keys to you." Rose said, handing me the keys to the cars her and Emmett had just loaded onto the truck.

"Okay, thanks." I said before they turned and headed back into the house to help Carlisle and the others.

I closed and locked the garage doors and reminded myself that I needed to ask Esme how big the garage space is at the new house. I turned and walked through the door that lead to the house, closing and locking that behind me also.

I walked into the living room to find that all 6 delivery vans were full and everything was ready to go.

The courier lorry was already pulling down the drive, closely followed by the removal vans.

' _These are some damn nice cars; I wonder how they can afford them all? The Vanquish had to cost 150 thousand dollars, that Porsche is brand new and probably set them back 100 thousand dollars, a new BMW and that Jaguar is beautiful!'_ The driver was thinking. I had to laugh because some of the theories he was coming up with to how we could afford the cars were just ridiculous, but not even remotely close to the real reason.

"Okay, its 8:30, is everyone ready?" Carlisle asked.

Everybody murmured 'Yes' before collecting the luggage they were carrying with them and heading outside to the taxi that was waiting for us to take us to Seattle.

 **Carlisle POV**

We all got out of the taxi once we arrived at the airport. I got the $60 dollars from my wallet and I payed the driver. We headed towards the terminal and collected trolleys for all of our luggage to make us look a little more normal. I checked the boards and saw that we needed to go to check in desk 71A. Everybody followed my lead as we headed over to the desk to collect the tickets and to check in.

"Good morning, Sir, how can I be of assistance?" The young woman with the airline uniform asked me.

"I booked 8 tickets for the 10:15 flight to London Heathrow under the name of Carlisle Cullen." I told her.

She looked at her computer screen for a few seconds before looking back up at me.

"We have the tickets here, Dr Cullen, 8 first class for the 10:15 flight to Heathrow Terminal 5?" She confirmed.

I passed over my card to pay for the tickets.

"Yes that is correct." I told her, she smiled back at me before asking for the identification of all of the passengers traveling. We were able to get Bella's passport a few nights ago when Alice and Jasper went through Bella's window to collect it from the safe that it was stored in in Charlie's house.

"Here you go, Sir, your flight is due to leave in 85 minutes as there are no delays, of yet. Do you wish for me to direct you towards the first class lounge?" She asked, smiling.

"No, thank you I have been there before." I told her before leaning down and picking up my carry-on luggage.

"Thank you." I told her before walking towards the first class lounge.

 **Alice POV**

We arrived at the first class lounge and we put our luggage down on the chairs, luckily we were the only ones in here.

"Bella! Come on!" I whined playfully.

"Alice! What!" She whined back at me.

I laughed and captured her hand pulling her towards the door.

"Alice where are you taking me?" She asked.

"Duty Free! Airports always have the best shops! I said before dragging her out the door leaving the others laughing behind us.

We arrived at the Duty Free and I immediately saw a Harvey Nichols store, I pulled Bella towards it and started looking through the items.

"That's cute." She said looking at a plaid jumper, which even I would wear and I hate wearing jumpers.

"Yes, it is! And you are buying it!" I told her.

"Alice, I am not its $200 dollars." She told me.

"Bella you will end up with it either way, either you buy it or I buy it for you." I gave her an ultimatum.

"Fine! Gosh you are so pushy!" She told me in mild annoyance.

I laughed. "I know! But you love me!" I told her laughing.

"I know!" She gave in, "It's not my fault you're loveable! Edward was right you know; you are very annoying for a pixie!" She said laughing, and I joined in too.

We left Harvey Nichols after I picked up a new jacket and a pair of jeans, Bella had the jumper and a pair of jeans that I forced her to get, reminding her there are no good shops where we are moving.

After that we went to a food store and got Bella a drink and something to eat on the plane. To us, plane food was revolting, after a conversation with Bella I realised humans thought it was disgusting as well.

"I am never going shopping with you again, I think I would rather stick pins in my eyes, Alice I love you but you can be a real pain sometimes." She said laughing as we sat back down in the lounge.

"I know! I forced you because may I remind you there are no shopping opportunities where we are moving, and I know you will look really nice in it." I told her with my best puppy face on.

She laughed. "Fine." She said, giving up.

"That reminds me, Esme, how much space is there for cars at the new house?" Edward asked Esme.

"That is one of the things I love about it, from the outside it doesn't look like there is one, it's underground and there is space for 16 cars." Esme said, looking impressed with herself.

"Good, I want a new car." Edward said before going back to playing a multiplayer game on a PS Vita against Em and Jazz who had also decided to bring theirs with them, along with their laptops. Me and rose had just bought our laptops and Bella had been sent some money from her mum so she bought a new one. I was thinking of getting a new laptop, Rose had ordered the new version of the MacBook a few weeks ago, the same version of Bella's but rose gold. Bella bought the black one which matched her black iPhone. It got me thinking, was there an Apple Store here in the airport? I think there is. I look into the future to see if we will miss our flight if I go now and it looks fine, we will be back here 20 minutes before our flight departs. I reached into my purse and got out the other black credit card.

"Where are you going now?" Emmett asked laughing.

"The Apple Store, I need a new laptop and there isn't one for hundreds of miles where we are moving and Bella is coming because I want the one she has." I told him.

"Oh, the black one?" He asked.

I nodded my head and he reached into his satchel.

"I want one." He told me throwing me his card, "I want a black one and get me a case and some stickers for the lid?" He added.

"Yeah okay, be back in 20, Come with me Bella?" I told them before standing up, Bella got up and followed me after talking her phone out if her satchel.

We arrived at the Apple Store to be greeted by a blonde man in a blue shirt with a fringe.

"Hey can I help you?" He asked us.

"No thanks were fine for now." I told him, smiling at him.

"Bella which one is yours?" I asked and she led me over to a set of four laptops, a grey-black one, a silver one, a gold one and a rose gold one.

"I got the same as my phone, the grey-black one." She said.

I nodded my head and asked one of the workers in the blue shirt for help.

"Hello, I want to buy two of these laptops, one in silver and one in grey-black. I also want to purchase a new cell phone, a silver iPhone 6s." I told him.

"Okay, I will be back with those items for you." He said before walking in the other direction.

Bella and I headed down to the accessories section and looked for cases and stickers.

"We need a case for Em." Bella said. I picked up a plain black one with a blue lightning bolt going across it.

"Perfect!" I said, happy at how easy it was.

By the time the man came out with the laptops and the phone I had picked up a red and white flower printed case for the phone and a white and pink flowery case for the laptop, I had also picked up a pair of white headphones for Emmett as well as his case. Bella realised that she didn't have a case for her laptop and bought a black silicone case one for hers.

We took the items to the counter where the man from earlier scanned them as well as the laptops and the iPhone.

"Do you know how to set everything up or do you require assistance?" He asked us.

"We are fine thanks, my sister here and my other sister already have these laptops." I told him with a smile.

He put each of the laptops in a white drawstring bag with an Apple logo on before handing one to me and one to Bella. The man then put the cases and the stickers, as well as the headphones I had chosen for Emmett in another bag, before handing it to Bella. Finally, the man put the iPhone in a smaller bag, before closing it and handing it to me.

"Right, that will be four thousand, four hundred and thirty-six dollars in total." He told us before I handed over my credit card. I decided to pay with mine and Emmett can pay me back later, maybe he can take me shopping.

"Here is your receipt, have a good day." He said to us as he handed me the receipt and my credit card back.

"Thank you!" We both said before leaving the store and heading back to the others.

"Are you excited?" I asked Bella.

"I don't think I have ever been so excited! This is everything I've ever wanted, a family." She said before looking at me smiling. I linked my arms with hers and we walked through the door to the lounge.

Bella walked over to Emmett and handed him the bag with his new laptop in.

"Thank you dearly." He said before opening the bag and taking out the large box.

"Em!" I said. He looked up and I threw him the case and the stickers for the laptop. I also threw him the headphones I bought for him and I passed him back his credit card.

"I paid with mine, you can give it to me later or take me shopping or something!" I told him in my usual cheery voice.

' _First call for Flight 3527 to London Heathrow ready for departure, go to gate 78.'_ The female automated tone said over the speakers.

Everybody got up and collected their luggage, along with me and Emmett collecting our newly acquired Apple bags, and made our way to the gate. Because we were sitting in first class at the front of the plane we got to board first.

Carlisle approached the steward waiting at the desk at the entrance to the gate and handed him the tickets along with our passports, fake of course, and the legal guardian certificates for us as well as Bella that Jasper finished a few nights ago.

The steward checked the tickets and the identification before looking up and smiling at Carlisle.

"Have a good flight!" He told us as we walked through the tunnel that lead to the plane.

This was it, I was so excited! I love moving and I love it even more that Bella is with us, which makes up for the lack of shopping opportunities. Esme said that our garage can fit 16 cars, I know Edward just bought me a Porsche but I love the look of the new Ferrari 458, and it is incredibly fast! Meaning as we are moving to the middle of nowhere and most of the population have a net worth of over 1 million dollars we can be a little less inconspicuous.

We got to the plane door and we were directed to our seats which were set out two next to each other and a table between the opposite chairs, with the same set out on the other side. We all sat down in our respective pairs. Me and Jazz opposite Bella and Edward and the Rose and Emmett on the other side opposite Carlisle and Esme.

As it was only a small plane there were only 8 seats in first class which was perfect for us. We waited for around 20 minutes for the rest of the passengers to get on the plane and to put their carry-on luggage in the overhead lockers.

I put my carry-on bag in the overhead locker, after taking out a pair of earphones and a lightening connector to charge the new phone which I had left on the table in the bag, as well as the laptop. I could see that Emmett and Rose has their laptops on the table as well, Emmett was busying himself collecting his DVD's from his bag in the overhead locker.

' _Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome aboard the flight 3527 to London Heathrow. This is your pilot Andrew Marshall speaking. The flying time today will be 9 hours 47 minutes with a chance of heavy turbulence when we pass over the Atlantic.'_ When he said this Bella looked a little uneasy, because as we all know she hated flying. Edward took her hand and told her that she is safe. _'Your flight attendants for today are Emily in first class and, Seann and Paige in coach. We hope you have a wonderful flight.'_ The pilot said before turning off the intercom.

A few minutes later the plane began taxiing towards the runway to take off. When it reached the end of the runway, the plane began to pick up speed before taking off into the morning sky at the end of the runway.

 **Bella POV**

Damn I hate flying. I know that I am perfectly safe with my family but I can't help but feel dread in the pit of my stomach. I didn't hate flying because I felt sick or Ill during the flight, I hated flying because if the possibility of a crash or an accident. Whilst I was thinking about this Edward took my hand in his and squeezed it a little. I looked over at him smiling, I raised my eyebrows at him.

"It's not going to happen, Love." He told me sincerely.

"Thought you couldn't read my mind." I said to him in a hushed tone, knowing he could hear me.

He scoffed mildly, laughing at my comment.

"I can read you like a book, just like you can me." He told me. We both laughed until Alice huffed.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"I haven't had one of these phones before." She said, fiddling with the new phone she just taken out of the box, "I can't find where you put it on airplane mode." She said.

I held my hand out for the phone and she placed it in my hand.

"You press the gear for settings and then you select 'Airplane Mode', you know it's on when there is a plane in the left hand corner." I told her before giving her the phone back.

"Edward, what car are you thinking of buying?" Emmett asked Edward.

"I like the new Ferrari 458, but I can already tell from Alice's thoughts that I'm not allowed to buy one because she wants one. Maybe since I can drive it I might just get a Lamborghini if I'm not allowed the Ferrari." He said.

"Well, I read that the majority of the people who live in Barmouth are wealthy, the coastline and quiet is what attracts them there." Esme said. "You can buy and drive whatever you like." She said whilst reading a magazine.

"Bella needs a car, we can go and choose one when we are settled." Edward said.

"Edward, you are not buying me a car." I said, not making my eyes from the phone in my hand.

"Bella, it was part of the deal remember, besides, I'm about to spend 160 thousand dollars on a Lamborghini, getting you a car won't make a difference." He told me, he wasn't going to give up on this.

"You're not going to give up are you?" I asked him and everyone laughed.

"Nope!" He said shaking his head and laughing.

"Okay then." I said, ending the argument. For now.

 **Alice POV**

Watching Bella and Edward argue was kind of funny because I knew that Edward has already ordered a car for Bella and that it was sitting in the garage at the new house. I loved this house because we didn't have to do any work on it, it already had the glass wall that Esme wanted and Rose could fit the hurricane barriers on them just like she did for the old house in Forks. I also liked this house because everything was already done for sure. Esme has hired a profound interior designer from London to design the inside of the house from the ideas that Esme has emailed her, so the house was already finished and we didn't even have to spend days decorating it and choosing furniture like we normally did. The house in Forks was a complete nightmare, when we first moved there, there was no glass wall at the back of the house and it took days for one to be put in because there was not enough support for the roof and the other floors.

I had finished setting up the phone and I moved onto the laptop, I turned it on and I saw that you needed a wireless connection to set it up.

"Em, do you have your hotspot with you?" I asked him.

"Yeah, do you need it to set up the laptop?" He asked.

"Yeah." I told him. He reached into his pocket and retrieved a small rectangular object in a black case, he threw it to me and I caught it.

"Thank you!" I sing-songed to him.

"No problem!" He sing-songed back.

…

We were about four and a half hours into the flight when we hit turbulence. Edward put down his car racing game with Em and Jasper and held onto one of Bella's hands with both of his.

By now Emmett had sorted out his laptop and it was sitting closed on the table and he was playing a multiplayer car racing game with Jasper and Edward. I picked up Edwards controller and continued racing against them. I saw that he was racing with an Audi R8, it's a pretty nice car, and it's fast too.

"Actually, Edward you can have your Ferrari, I want an Audi R8, very pretty and fast too. A white one. Let me google search where the nearest Audi dealership is." I said to him.

"It's about 30 miles away, about 4 towns over." He told me.

"Thanks Edward." I told him before applying my attention to my laptop once more.

Just then the flight attendant, Emily, walked through the cabin.

"Can I get anybody anything? Any food or refreshments." She asked.

"Bella?" I asked.

"I'm fine thanks." She said looking at me.

"We're fine thank you!" I told the flight attendant before she smiled and walked back in the direction she came from.

 **Carlisle POV**

We landed safely in London and waited to the flight attendants to open the doors.

' _Ladies and gentlemen we have arrived safely in London and the time is 6:35PM local time. The temperature is a crisp 12 degrees centigrade with wind speeds of 13mph. We hope you have had a good flight and will choose to fly with us again, have a wonderful evening.'_ The pilot said before turning off all of the engines and bringing the plane to a halt at the terminal.

As we were in first class we were allowed to leave the plane first. We took our carry-on luggage out if the overhead lockers and walked through the door, thanking the flight attendants as we passed them.

We walked down the stairs and over to the doors that separated the airplane parking area and the terminal. We headed straight through the baggage collection because we didn't have any, only the bags that we are carrying with us. We walked through the door marked 'Nothing to Declare' and headed straight through to the doors at the front of the airport.

"Funny, not as cold as I thought it would be." Bella stated.

"Hopefully you won't have to feel the cold for much longer." I turned around and said to her, smiling.

"The rental car place is this way I think." Esme said, drawing back my attention from our newest daughter.

"Okay, let's go then." I said and we started walking in the direction that Esme pointed in. Rosalie was put in charge of hiring one or two rental cars that can get us to the house.

We walked into the small office to be greeted by a middle aged man with grey-ish hair.

"Hello! How can I help you?" The man asked Rosalie.

"Yeah, I placed an order online for two cars under the name of Hale." She told him.

The man led Rose and me over to a desk and the others held back by the doors. Alice leaning against Jasper, Bella leaning against Edward and Emmett talking to Esme about buying a new 4X4.

The man looked at his computer for a few minutes, clicking and typing until he found Rose's order she placed online.

"Miss Hale, I have your order here, all you need to do is choose the cars you want to hire and when they have been used return them to our branch in Cardigan Bay." He told her.

"Yes that is correct." She told him.

"Miss Hale, could I please see your driver's license?" He asked her.

Rose took her wallet out of the purse and opened it. She took out the driver's license that she used in Forks as we would be using those ID's whilst living here as we only lived in Forks for a short period of time. Rosalie handed the man the driver's license and he checked it before giving it back to her.

"Everything seems in check, Miss, if you would please go outside and choose which cars you would wish to hire." He told her.

She nodded her head once and smiled at him before walking out the door, the rest of us following behind her, leaving our luggage inside. We walked into the parking lot and saw a massive selection of cars.

"Right then, who's driving?" I asked.

"I'll drive." Emmett said.

"Yeah me too." Jasper said.

"Okay then, pick what you are driving." I said.

After a few minutes of walking around the lot, Emmett told Rosalie that he wanted the 'Range Rover in the corner' and Jasper told her that he wanted the 'dark blue Mercedes'.

Emmett and Jasper followed Rose inside to collect the keys and the bags whilst the rest of us waited beside the cars. It was decided that Bella and Edward would travel with Alice and Jasper in the Mercedes and myself and Esme would go with Rose and Emmett in the Range Rover.

Rosalie came back outside with Emmett and Jasper in tow carrying the bags. Rosalie unlocked each of the cars with the keys in her hand and opened the trunks using the buttons on the keys. Emmett and Jasper put everyone's bags in the boots of the cars and got their keys from Rose.

Everybody got into the cars and we pulled out of the parking lot and got onto the road that lead to the M6 motorway which would lead us straight to North Wales, according to the navigation system Jasper was using it was only a 3 hour 17-minute drive from Heathrow airport to the new house in North Wales.

 **Bella POV**

Edward and I got into the back of the Mercedes, with Jasper driving and Alice sitting in the passenger seat beside him. As soon as Edward got in and closed the door he held his hand out in a request for me to place mine in his. I accepted his request and placed my hand in his outstretched hand. We were driving along the motorway and I started to think. I was starting to become nervous, and I wasn't sure why.

"What's wrong Bella?" Jasper asked me from the driver's seat. His voice snapped me out of my daydream and I directed my attention to him. He was looking at me curiously in the rear view mirror. Holding Alice's hand in his and holding his other hand on the wheel.

"I have no idea!" I told him honestly, "I have butterflies and I'm not sure why." I told him.

He smiled a little and directed his attention back to the road.

"It's okay to be a little nervous Bella. This is your first time away from your mother and your father."

"Yeah I know and I know this time it is different; this time I am excited to move somewhere. Honestly, when I moved to Forks I moved here to make my mother happy, I didn't want to move there." I told him honestly.

"Bella, did your mother force you to move there?" Alice asked, a hint of disgust in her voice.

"No! To be perfectly honest I wanted to get away, she just got married and I didn't want to be there, I just didn't want to live in Forks either." I told her, but I wasn't sure why I was defending my mother.

Just then my phone started ringing, I opened my satchel and took it out of the back pocket.

Speak of the devil.

I sighed and rejected the call. Putting the phone back in the bag.

"Who was it?" Alice asked me.

"My mother." I told her annoyed. Why won't my mother just leave me alone?

I placed my hand back in Edwards and my phone started ringing again. This time it was an unknown number so I couldn't tell who it was. I answered the call.

"Hello?" I asked.

" _Hello, Bella."_ A male's voice on the other end of the phone said.

"What do you want Phil?" I asked my voice angry.

" _Bella! Don't be stupid! Where are you?"_ He asked.

"I don't see why that is any concern of yours." I told him keeping my voice down.

" _Your mother wants to know where her daughter is!"_ He said to me.

"Daughter? She lost the right to call me that a long time ago when she abused me, why don't you ask her about that before you call me shouting your mouth off telling me I'm hurting people. I thought my brother already warned you Phil, you know he is sitting here in the car with me?" I told him, if he was going to play dirty then so was I!

" _Brother! Bella you don't have a brother and why on earth am I going to be afraid of a 17-year-old boy?"_ He laughed.

I looked up and Jasper held his hand out for the phone. I handed it to him and he pressed it to his ear.

"I thought I warned you not to call my sister again!" Jasper said.

" _And who are you? The big bad brother? Don't make me laugh."_ He continued to throw jibes at Jasper.

"I wouldn't provoke me, we can make sure you or her mother never see Bella again if that is what she wants and I dare you to question me again." Letting the anger roll into his voice.

" _We will find where you are!"_ He told Jasper.

"Yeah, you go ahead and try that." Jasper said threateningly before taking the phone from his ear and ending the call. He passed the phone back to me and I put it back in my satchel.

"Thanks Jasper." I said.

"Anytime, little sister." He said before smiling at me in the rear view mirror.

"Did you mean what you said? That you can keep her away from me?" I asked, wondering.

"If that is what you wanted, you're a Cullen now, we protect our own." Alice said, turning herself around in the seat to smile at me and to grab my other hand which was not in Edward's.

We sat in a comfortable silence for a while before Jasper spoke up. "Here we are." He said, turning left and coming up to face a large pair of wooden gates with a code.


	8. Chapter 8

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 8**

 **Alice POV**

"Esme, what's the code?" Jasper asked, as we were in the car in front.

"49817." She said, "we can change it though."

Jasper opened his window and entered the code. The gates opened slowly to reveal a drive with flowers and bushes of ivy and ferns going up each side. We continued to go down the drive, with Carlisle and the others following closely behind us.

We turned the last corner and came face to face with a large house, it was a lot larger than the one in Forks. It was modern and new, it was beautiful. Through the front windows you could see the beautiful glass wall along the back of the house, overlooking the beach and the sea. I could see there was a large deck at the side of the house, but I wasn't sure what room it leads from.

You could see the slant downwards in the driveway which was where the underground garage was, and if Edward is having a new car I want one too. Once we have unpacked and all of the cars are away I might go car shopping to the Audi dealership Edward told me about.

Everybody got out of the car, closing their doors behind them before staring around in awe.

"Wow!" I heard Bella mumble, looking at the beautiful driveway and the equally beautiful house which is now our home.

"You have outdone yourself this time Esme!" Emmett commented.

"You most certainly have." Jasper said.

"Shall we go inside?" Esme asked.

Everybody nodded and followed her up the steps to the glass door, which was a lot like the one in forks but it wasn't set in wood and the whole front of the house wasn't glass. Esme put the key into the door and pulled the handle down to open the door. We all followed her inside. The inside of the house was even better than the outside, it was amazingly well done and it was clear that this was Esme's idea, the interior had Esme written all over it.

The living room was large and white, with accents of gold and cream. Edward's white piano sat in the corner of the room facing the glass of windows, it was the perfect centrepiece. Two white sofas, along with a cream loveseat and 2 cream armchairs were along the right wall, spaced around a coffee table. The television was set up on the wall in front of the coffee table and there was a high side table underneath with tons of shelves to hold all of Emmett's and Jasper's game consoles and games which were all being bought up by the moving vans.

"When are the moving vans supposed to get here? And the cars?" Rosalie asked Carlisle eagerly.

"In about 20 minutes actually, I spoke to them in the car and they are ahead of schedule." He told her, pleased.

Everybody dispersed to check out the rest of the house. I wandered around the living room admiring the beautiful art work hanging up on the walls that Esme had sent here from the house in Forks. We wouldn't sell the house in Forks, it was locked and had a state of the art security system, and we also closed the hurricane barriers that Rose and Emmett fitted a few years ago. Besides, we can get back there in a century when everybody who lives there now is dead. I grimaced at the thought, after we had come back after leaving I had grown very close to Angela Weber, she was one of the people who never judged us and who thought that Edward and us Cullen's were good for Bella, for that I was incredibly grateful. I walked through to the kitchen. Although we didn't use it we needed one for show, to pretend that we are actually normal and that we don't suck the life out of animals. The kitchen was beautiful, white sheen cabinets and a black marble worktop, accompanied by stainless steel appliances and a stainless steel oven. Around the kitchen island there were black leather bar stools. Some of the cabinets were fitted with frosted glass, and some with normal glass. Through the glass I could see shelves filled with glasses, tumblers and wine glasses. In others I could see plates and bowls. In other cupboards I could see that the kitchen had already been stocked with food for Bella to eat.

I walked back out into the living room and headed for the stairs, under the stairs was a cupboard, but I had no idea what we would use that for. I walked up the stairs at a human pace and found Esme talking to Emmett at the top of the stairs.

"Alice, yours and Jasper's room is the room to the left, it has the biggest closet." She told me, adding the last part for my enjoyment.

I giggled and jumped as I moved towards mine and Jasper's bedroom. I opened the door and saw a large room with a large window that looked over the beach. I loved it! The bed was a white plated California king bed with white wooden side tables to match. Each of the side tables had a white lamp with a single line of diamonds going around the rim of the shade. One of the tables had a rectangular mirrored box which was obviously meant to hold jewellery of some sort. Opposite the bed was a chest of drawers which matched the side tables and there was a large TV above it. In the corner of the room there was white Georgian style chair with the same material on the seat that made the scatter cushions on the bed. Around the room there were pastel yellow and pastel baby blue accents, such as the drapes that hung over the window, the rug underneath the bed and the lamp on the chest of drawers. Something in the corner of the room caught my eye. A set of double doors which lead through to the closet! The closet was much larger than the one in Forks, which meant a shopping trip! There was more than enough space for both mine and Jasper's things with room to spare.

I walked back out of the room and onto the landing. I hugged Esme as I walked past.

"Thank you, Esme! The room is perfect. I love the colours!" I told her.

"Your welcome, Sweetheart. I'm glad you like it!" She told me happily before pulling away, smiling at me and continuing her conversation with Emmett.

I walked along the landing and noticed that Edward's and Bella's room was also on this floor, along with two other bedrooms, two studies and the library. I walked up the stairs to the top floor, it was the same design as the landing in the first floor, cream walls with a light oak rim at the bottom. Some of the walls also had artwork on them. The top floor consisted of Emmett's and Rosalie's bedroom, Carlisle's and Esme's bedroom, a gym, a music room and a further 2 study spaces which would be for Esme and Carlisle.

"Carlisle, they'll be here in seven minutes, they got lost and had to ask for directions to the address." I called down the stairs.

"Okay, Sweetheart." Carlisle said, walking down the stairs to help Rosalie and Emmett.

I headed back down to the ground level when I heard the intercom buzz. Carlisle pressed it.

"Hello?" Carlisle asked the person waiting at the end of the drive.

" _Dr Cullen? This is Quick Move Removals and your car courier."_ He answered Carlisle.

"Okay, I'll open the gates." Carlisle pressed the button to end the call and he pressed the switch on the wall that opens the gates. A few minutes later the car courier and the first three of the removal vans pulled onto the drive and the men got out of the cabs.

It was agreed that Edward, me and Bella would take the cars into the garage once the driver had taken them from the courier and parked them on the drive. All of us began to take items from the removal vans and put them into the space into the living room so we could sort through them later. Once the first three removal vans were empty they drove away and the other three pulled onto the drive. Since the courier driver had finished taking the cars from the courier and they were all parked in the corner of the drive, he got back into the cab and headed back to his depot, after being given a cheque and a tip from Carlisle.

Whilst the others unloaded the three removal vans, Edward, Bella and I walked over to the cars. I suggested to Carlisle that Bella help because she has a surprise waiting for her in the garage.

"Can I do the normal cars?" She asked us and we laughed.

"The normal cars?" I questioned.

"Yeah you know, Edwards and Rose's and Jasper's cars are normal cars, like not sport cars. Besides, I can drive Edwards's car and I've driven Jasper's as well. How different are Rosalie's and Jasper's cars going to be?" She said and I laughed.

"Okay then, if you do those three Bella, I will do my Porsche, the Vanquish and Esme's Jaguar. Edward you can do Emmett's Jeep and Carlisle's Mercedes? Yes?" I asked and they nodded. I wandered over to the others.

"Carlisle? Where is the box with the car keys in?" I asked him, as he was carrying a box into the house.

"It's on the sideboard in the living room, Sweetheart." He told me before putting down the box and heading back outside to collect another.

I took the box in my hands and walked back into the living room. There was a door on the right hand side near the stairs, I opened it and switched on the light. I headed down the stairs and found the panel on the wall which I needed to open the shutter to enter the garage. I saw Bella's new car parked in one of the spaces. She is going to love it!

I opened the shutter and headed up the slope to find Bella and Edward wrapped in each other. Edwards's hands wrapped around her waist and her arms wrapped securely around his neck as she held her head to his chest.

I cleared my throat to gain their attention, they looked up and I earned _another_ one of Edward's glares.

' _Don't look at me like that! Once this is done you can have her all to yourself, if she isn't too excited about her gift in the garage.'_ I thought. He smiled and looked down at Bella.

"You ready?" He asked her.

"Let's do this!" She said confidently.

We trusted Bella completely driving the cars, even if she is a complete klutz she is a very good driver. Edward walked over to Emmett's Jeep and got in, Bella did the same with Jasper's BMW. I got into my Porsche and drove slowly down the ramp which was large, but it was at a 30-degree angle. Shouldn't be difficult. I parked my car in its designated spot in the corner of the garage and got out, putting the key in my jacket pocket. Bella drove down the ramp and parked Jasper's car next to mine. She got out and looked at me with a confused, yet agitated expression. She came and stood next to me, leaning against the rear window of my car.

"What, is that?" She asked, pointing at the shiny new Audi A3 Cabriolet in the corner.

"Ask him." I said, pointing at Edward who had now parked Emmett's Jeep and was walking towards us.

Bella didn't say anything to him, she just raised her eyebrows and waited for him to say something, knowing he had heard our conversation.

"Now." He said "Bella, you promised you wouldn't get mad, it was a condition remember!" He said smiling because he knew she couldn't disagree.

"But… it's… I can't... you two are incorrigible and I'm not going to get anywhere moaning am I?" She asked, looking between us with an annoyed look on her face.

"No." Edward and I said at the same time.

"God, you two are so alike it's unreal, it's like you were really brother and sister when you were human." Bella said, looking between us both, smiling.

"Should I take that as a compliment or…" I asked, trailing off.

"Definitely…" she said, looking at Edward. You could see her love and affection for him in her eyes. You saw it in his eyes too when they were together or someone was talking about her.

For a moment I go into a trance and the view before me disappears, and I see us walking through the house soaking wet after moving the cars in the rain. Esme is moaning at us because we have got water on the rug in the living room. Edward sees my thoughts and chuckles.

"Shall we get these cars in before it rains?" I ask.

"Yeah, because if it starts to rain you two can do them, I am prone to medical problems when I am rained on, so let's get to it."

As we walk towards the slope, Bella tugs on Edward's hand, pulling him back a little. She wraps her arms around his neck and stands on her tip toes so she can secure her lips to his.

"Thank you." She whispers into his ear.

"You are welcome, I love you." He whispers back.

"I love you, too." She whispers before pulling away and leading him towards the slope so we can bring in the rest of the cars before it rains.

 **Carlisle POV**

We finish unloading the removal vans and Emmett puts the last box in the living room. I give the man his payment as well as a £40-pounds tip because of the time they arrived.

We sat around the new sofas waiting for Edward, Bella and Alice to finish up with the cars. Truthfully, I actually had no idea that Edward would surprise Bella, I think the only people who knew were himself, Alice and Esme.

Emmett and Jasper were rummaging through the boxes trying to find the box with the games consoles in. After a few minutes they found the box and Emmett dragged it over to a spot under the TV. They began to take the various consoles from the box and started to make four piles. They started to sort out the controllers and the wires that needed to connect the consoles to the TV. Emmett looked up and started looking through the box again.

"Where, is the scart cable?" He asked, mostly to himself.

"Oh, it's on the kitchen side, I put it in a different box when we took the TV down off the wall." Esme said, looking up from her book for a moment.

"Thanks." Emmett said before heading off in the direction of the kitchen and returning a few seconds later with a set of scart cables in his hand. Emmett plugged the scart into the TV and began to plug in the consoles.

Another benefit of a vampire memory, you don't need to read the instructions to see where the cables go, you remember.

 **Edward POV**

We finished driving the cars into the garage and into their designated spaces. Alice just had to bring in the Vanquish and we were done. As we waited, Bella stood in my embrace with her head on my chest and my head on her shoulder.

"I love you, so much!" She told me.

"I love you, too, you are my life now Bella and I couldn't live without you in it." I told her.

She looked up at me, smiling, she giggled, and it was my complete favourite sound in the world, after her heartbeat of course. I swear I am so attuned to it by now I could pick it out if she was within 2 miles of where I was.

"You know; I feel exactly the same. I don't just want you anymore, I need you, like I need oxygen to breathe." She said before placing her head back to my chest.

I smiled before encasing her in my arms once again.

Alice came into the garage a few minutes later and parked the car in its space. She got over the car and wandered over to Bella and me.

"You done?" I asked.

"Yeah, everything is done and everyone is in the living room waiting for us. Shall I close that?" She asked, pointing to the shutter.

"Please." I said as she walked over to the panel on the wall and closed the shutters.

She began to walk in the direction of the stairs before turning around and facing Bella and I.

"Come on then!" She chimed before continuing to walk in the direction she was walking in.

Bella pulled away and took my hand instead. She pulled on my hand and insisted that I walk with her. So I decided to surprise her. In a split second I was in front of her and she was on my back. She yelped in surprise and started to laugh.

"Is one surprise not enough? You know how I feel about surprises!" She said to me, laughing.

"Nothing is ever enough, I am going to spoil you when you are my wife, and that over there." I said pointing to her car in the corner, "is for you whilst you are human, when you are changed you can start to drive sports cars like us because I won't have to worry about you breaking yourself."

"Kay." She said kissing my cheek from behind.

" _Kay?"_ I questioned, knowing she never gives up.

"I learned my lesson the last time you attempted to give me something, I learned that I was going to get it whether I liked it or not, it's the same with Alice." She told me, still laughing.

"Well, get used to it." I told him before laughing and heading towards the stairs, with her still on the back.

"Time to feed the human." I said earning myself a ' _hey_!' and a pat on the shoulder.


	9. Chapter 9

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 9**

 **Bella POV**

It was 7PM by the time all of the boxes had been unpacked and all of the clothes from the suitcases and hold-alls had been put away in the closets. Alice's took the longest. Of course.

I came downstairs to find everyone sitting on the sofas. As I went to sit down next to Edward, be pulled my hand lightly so I fell into his lap, not onto the sofa.

"Hey!" I said, giggling.

"I love that sound." he told me as he pulled me backwards to lay against his chest.

Everyone looked towards Carlisle as he started speaking.

"So, we need to decide what we are going to do. I think Esme and I should enrol you in school for a few weeks, and I work at the hospital, that way we won't raise suspicion when Bella is changed, we can just say you have all gone to college." He said.

"I agree with Carlisle," Alice said, "it would definitely make us look suspicious if we don't go to school as the school calendar year is different here, it won't look so strange if we disappear for a few months after Bella is changed, except for Carlisle of course who will continue to work at the hospital." Alice spoke up.

I was about to speak up before I was interrupted by a phone ringing, my phone, I looked up at the caller ID and saw that it said 'Mom'. I decided to decline the call right away. I put the phone back down on the table and looked back up. Everyone was looking at me.

"That was Reneé wasn't it?" Carlisle asked me.

"Yeah, I just want her to leave me be, it's like she doesn't want me to be happy at all, it's so irritating." I told him. He smiled back at me and Edward's embrace on me tightened.

"Do you think Charlie can find us?" I asked the group.

Everybody looked towards Jasper. "I don't think so, all of our credit cards are invisible so he couldn't track them, the only way he could find us is through tracking the plane tickets and the destination we travelled to, but he wouldn't know what direction we travelled in after we left the airport. The only other way is to track a cell phone number, and being police chief he has clearance to do that, as he knows Bella's cell number he could trace it back to us. Bella hand me your phone and I'll change the settings so he can't trace you."

I handed him the phone and he disappeared for a few seconds coming back with a laptop and a connector for my phone. He plugged the phone into the laptop and pressed keys on the keyboard, very quickly. Everyone was silent as Jasper worked and after a few minutes he handed me back the phone.

"Thanks, Jasper." I told him sincerely.

"No problem, Bells." He told me, smiling at me.

He closed the laptop and put it on the floor to the side of him. I put my phone back on the table.

"What does everyone think about the school idea?" Esme asked.

"If it would raise less suspicion then I'm up for it." Edward said.

"If us 'kids' have to disappear for a few months or years, the going to college cover could work if we went to school for the last 4 weeks of their semester." Alice chimed in.

"As long as we get to drive, I'm not fussed." Rosalie said.

"Yeah, I agree with the others, besides it might be fun…" Emmett said.

"I don't think a month at school with kill us, and it might help us in the long run." Jasper told the group.

"Bella?" Esme asked.

"I think that if it will help we should do it, I know you guys are doing this for me and I'm really grateful, I hate causing problems." I said, well, I mumbled the last part.

"You aren't causing problems, Sweetie." Esme said to me, "You're one of us now, we all help each other." She said, taking my hand in hers and squeezing it lightly.

"Okay then, Esme and I will go down there tomorrow and enrol you all, even though you have all graduated. I will go down to the hospital tomorrow as well." Carlisle said as my phone started to ring again.

This time I decided to answer it.

"Hello?" I said.

" _Bella? Is that you?"_ A frantic voice on the end of the phone asked me.

"Yes, it's me." I sighed.

"Thank God, you're okay!" She said.

"Why on earth wouldn't I be okay?" I asked her, confused.

"Charlie called me, told me that you were staying with _those_ people and that you weren't living with him anymore."

I did not like the way she said _those people_ and by the look on Carlisle's face he didn't either. This woman was hurting my family. My _mother_ was hurting my family.

"Right, have you finished insulting my family or would you like to continue being a bitch?" I asked her angrily, throwing an apologetic look at Esme that she dismissed with a smile.

She was silent for a few seconds and I took that opportunity to leave the room. I went into the kitchen, knowing they would still hear me if I needed help.

"Your _family_?" She exclaimed.

"Yes, what do you want Renee?" I asked her, letting my anger roll into my voice.

"I want you to tell me where you are so I can come and get you." She told me.

I laughed. "No." I answered simply. "Now, would you like me to tell you what _I_ want? I want you to leave me be. All of my life I have done nothing but care for other people, I went to live in a place that I didn't want to live in, to make _you_ happy, after you ran away to get married. I have looked after Charlie for months until he snapped a week ago. Did he tell you that? That my father struck me across the face and then attempted to drag me out of the Cullen house? Leaving bruises on my face and wrists. Did he tell you that he laughed at me after I was sexually assaulted by my best friend? Well let me tell you something _mother,_ did you tell your husband to call me and call me a liar? Or did you not even bother to tell him the way you treated me as a child? I was called a liar because _you_ don't have enough of a backbone to tell him that you used to physically abuse your daughter before she left to stay with her father?" By this point I was shouting and I was in tears.

"Bella. I am so very sorry, but…" she was going to finish her sentence but I interrupted her.

"Do not even try to tell me that you tried your best when I was a child, or that you are my mother and you know what is best for me, because you are wrong. I moved away with the Cullen's because this is my life and this is the way I want to live it, and _you_ think you have the right to call me and insult them? This family want nothing but the best for me and I love them and they love me? What don't you seem to grasp about that. I don't want to be found so stop looking, I will contact you myself if and when I want to talk to you again. The Cullen's can keep you away from me if that is what I want, and right now I don't want to see or speak to you. Goodbye Reneé." I said before ending the call and throwing the phone on the kitchen island. I leant against the kitchen island and sighed, covering my face with my hands.

 **Carlisle POV**

Bella got up off of Edward's lap and headed towards the kitchen, where she knew we would hear her if she needed one of us.

Jasper leant forward in the armchair he was sitting in with his hands clasped in front of him. His eyes were focused on a point in the wall which separated the living room and the kitchen. He was trying to tell what Bella's emotions were.

"Jasper, what is she feeling?" I asked him.

Jasper hated measuring Bella's emotions, he felt like he was invading her privacy, but at moments like this we needed to know so we could help her.

"At the moment she is just angry, I can't even find that she is upset anywhere, she is just as pissed as you are when she said _'those people'_." He told me.

Jasper leant back in the chair and continued to monitor Bella's emotions.

"Edward! Will you stop worrying! She is fine!" Jasper moaned.

Edward snapped out of his 'trance' and looked up at Jasper.

"Sorry, Jazz." Edward told him before smiling and leaning back into the sofa.

" _I want you to tell me where you are so I can come and get you."_ We heard her tell Bella.

Esme gasped at the roughness in Renee's voice. I took her hand in mine and looked at her.

"She would never leave; we all know that." I reassured her and she nodded her head.

Bella laughed. " _No_." She told Renee. " _Now, would you like me to tell you what I want? I want you to leave me be. All of my life I have done nothing but care for other people, I went to live in a place that I didn't want to live in, to make you happy, after you ran away to get married. I have looked after Charlie for months until he snapped a week ago. Did he tell you that? That my father struck me across the face and then attempted to drag me out of the Cullen house? Leaving bruises on my face and wrists. Did he tell you that he laughed at me after I was sexually assaulted by my best friend? Well let me tell you something mother, did you tell your husband to call me and call me a liar? Or did you not even bother to tell him the way you treated me as a child? I was called a liar because you don't have enough of a backbone to tell him that you used to physically abuse your daughter before she left to stay with her father?"_ Bella was shouting and without Jasper's gift I could tell that she was incredibly angry.

 _"Bella. I am so very sorry, but…"_ Renee attempted to say but Bella interrupted her.

" _Do not even try to tell me that you tried your best when I was a child, or that you are my mother and you know what is best for me, because you are wrong. I moved away with the Cullen's because this is my life and this is the way I want to live it, and you think you have the right to call me and insult them? This family want nothing but the best for me and I love them and they love me? What don't you seem to grasp about that. I don't want to be found so stop looking, I will contact you myself if and when I want to talk to you again. The Cullen's can keep you away from me if that is what I want, and right now I don't want to see or speak to you. Goodbye Renée."_ Bella said before throwing the phone down on the kitchen island.

Edward went to get up but I told him not, ushering him to sit back down.

"I'll go, Son." I told him before getting up from my seat beside Esme and walking to the kitchen. I walked through the kitchen door to find Bella leaning against the kitchen island with her head in her hands, even though she wasn't crying. I walked over to her and stood in front of her.

I touched Bella's wrists, carefully because of the bruises and gently pulled her hands away from her face. Her head still hung down, I put my index finger underneath her chin and pulled up her face to face me. She looked up at me and I could see the sadness in her eyes.

I pulled her into my embrace.

"Oh, Sweetheart, everything is going to be okay." I told her. We stood there like that for a few minutes, I was swaying side to side in the kitchen when she looked up at me.

"Did you hear what she said?" She asked me.

"Yes, Sweetheart, I'm so very sorry." I told her sincerely.

Bella took a deep breath and swallowed before she looked back up at me.

"Jasper, on the way here, he told me that you could keep her away from me if that is what I wanted."

She looked at me waiting for me to answer. "If you don't want her near you, she never will be, I will make sure if that, Sweetheart." I told her.

"Thank you, Carlisle, for everything you have done, for what everyone has done." She told me, wiping her eyes.

I pulled her back to my chest and cradled her tightly as she cried.

"Your welcome, Sweetheart, are you tired?" I asked her and she shook her head.

"You really are a brilliant father to the others Carlisle, you know that don't you?" She asked me.

It was always nice to be told, I always thought that the purpose of my life was to help people, both within my family and outside of my family.

"Thank you, Bella. Remember what I said after your nightmare? I will be whatever you want me to be, whether you want me as a father figure or not." I told her quietly.

"Of course I would, Carlisle, I would have to be crazy not to." She told me, giggling.

 _"_ Well then, we have our answer don't we?" I asked her, smiling.

"We sure do." She said, still giggling.

"Shall we go back through to the living room? I asked her.

She nodded her head into my chest and we separated before heading back into the living room. Bella retook her place in Edward's lap and I sat back down next to Esme. She took my hand and smiled, I knew she had heard mine and Bella's conversation in the kitchen.

Esme and I loved the fact that Bella now saw us as a mother and father figure, as we have saw her as our daughter for a while.

Edward looks up at me and Esme and smiled at us, showing his appreciation. Edward pulled Bella closer to his chest.

"Are you okay, Love?" He asked her and she nodded her head giving him a reassuring smile.

"What do you want to do about Reneé and Phil?" He asked her.

"We could take care of Phil for you!" Emmett said excitedly, cracking his knuckles, "besides, Jasper warned him twice already." Emmett added, making everyone laugh.

"I know that for now, I don't want to see her, I need time to come to terms with what's happened with her and Charlie, I'm not sure what to do, she made me so angry." Bella said, huddling into Edward's chest a little more, he wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay, Sweetie, you have all the time in the world to decide." Esme reassured her, holding her hand.

…

9PM arrived and Bella was starting to become tired, we had a long day after all. Since the phone call from Reneé, she has called twice and Bella had declined the call and given the cell phone to Jasper. We had been discussing the situation with school and we had decided that we would enrol them tomorrow and they could start on Monday, in two days time.

"So, Alice, when are you going to start?" Bella asked.

"Start what?" Alice asked, confused.

Bella laughed. "And I thought you could tell the future…" Bella said and Alice disappeared into a trance for a few moments searching the future.

After a few moments Alice leapt up from the chair she was sitting in, launching herself at Bella.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Alice shouted repeatedly.

"Care to fill the rest of us in?" Emmett asked, raising an eyebrow at Alice, who still held Bella in her embrace.

Bella pulled away from Bella, whispering 'thank you' again, before she practically leapt back into her chair.

"Bella and Edward have told me I can do their wedding!" She screeched, clapping her hands and giggling.

"With conditions!" Bella added.

"Yes I know, you want the wedding before your birthday, it has to be very small and you have to approve of everything." Alice said, pretending to be agitated.

"Correct." Bella said to Alice before settling down back on Edward's lap.

Bella's phone rang again and Jasper took the phone out of his pocket. He looked at the caller ID before looking up at Bella.

"It's a private number." Jasper said to her.

"Please can you answer it? If it's Phil tell him to get lost." She asked him.

"Sure, Bells." Jazz said before answering the phone and putting it to his ear.

"Hello?" Jasper asked.

" _Oh God, where is Bella and why have you taken her phone."_ Phil asked Jasper rudely.

"Firstly, Bella is here with me and the rest of our family and I haven't taken her phone, she asked me to take it and answer it if anybody… _irritating…_ calls." Jasper told him back.

" _Let me talk to her, she will listen to me."_ Phil shouted at Jasper.

"What, don't you and your wife understand? Bella doesn't want to see you or speak to you! I think she made that perfectly clear when Bella and Reneé spoke earlier." Jasper said through gritted teeth. "Do you have anything else to say or are you just going to waste my time?" Jasper asked the rude man, letting the southern slur come into his voice.

" _We will find where you are."_ Phil warned before hanging up the phone. Jasper locked the phone and put it back in his pocket.

Everyone sat in silence for a few minutes. Suddenly, Bella's laptop beeped upstairs informing her she had a notification and Alice went into a trance. She gasped and looked around the room.

"Someone get me Bella's laptop, quickly." Alice instructed. Edward growled seeing what Alice had just saw in her mind.

Rosalie took off up the stairs and returned a few seconds later with Bella's laptop in her hand. She handed it to Alice and she opened it. She stared at the screen, her mouth agape.

"Alice! What's wrong?" Bella asked.

"The laptop came online from a personal hotspot when Phil put the phone down. Because the laptop was connected to a personal hotspot, the owner of the hotspot can trace the IP address of the laptop connected to it."

"In English, Alice." Bella requested.

"She means that Phil and Reneé have found us." Edward told her.

She gasped and placed her head in her hands.

"They will be here Sunday morning, maybe earlier, Bella what do you want to do." Alice asked her.

Bella looked up and directed her sights on me.

"They can't get on property, right? Not without permission?" She asked me desperately.

"No they can't, but, I would like to talk to them, I would not let them anywhere you of course, Sweetheart. Besides, Alice and Edward want new cars, you guys could go out whilst she is here." I told them.

"No way, I'm staying here, I want to meet _Phil."_ Emmett said, smiling when he said the last part.

"Yeah me too." Jasper agreed.

"I don't think I should go either; the fact I can read minds can help us will give us an advantage." Edward said, clutching onto Bella.

"Okay, so you three boys want to stay here?" I asked.

They all looked at each other and nodded.

"So that leaves me, Esme, Jasper, Emmett and Edward here at the house?" I asked and everyone agreed, seeing it was the best option.

"Yeah, we can go car shopping!" Alice said, bouncing with glee. "I could really use you guys' help." She said pointedly toward Rose and Bella.

"Yeah okay." They agreed. "As long as you two don't kill anyone whilst we're gone." Bella said pointing at Emmett and Jasper.

Emmett put his hand over his chest in mock pain. "Sister, you wound me." He says before pretending to collapse on the sofa. Everyone erupted in laughter when Rose pushes Emmett on the sofa when he landed on her.

"If I can be excused, I'm kinda tired." Bella said getting up.

"Of course, Darling." Esme said. Bella went around the room and hugged everyone wishing them goodnight before walking back over to Edward and dragging him towards the stairs with her.


	10. Chapter 10

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 10**

" _If I can be excused, I'm kinda tired." Bella said getting up._

" _Of course, Darling." Esme said. Bella went around the room and hugged everyone wishing them goodnight before walking back over to Edward and dragging him towards the stairs with her._

 **Bella POV**

I woke up the next morning wrapped in the secure arms of Edward, with the comforter pulled up to my neck so I didn't get cold.

"Morning." I say sleepy, I hadn't even opened my eyes yet.

"Morning, Love." Edward said, putting down the book he was reading and looked down at me.

I smiled at him before remembering the outcome of last night's conversation with Reneé. The feelings must have shown on my face because Edward looked down at me with concern in his eyes.

"Bella, are you alright?" He asked me solemnly.

"I am just so angry with her, but I know you will keep me safe." I mumbled to him.

"Always." He said, pulling me tighter to his chest.

We sat silently for a few minutes just enjoying the time together. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." I mumbled, knowing that whoever it was would hear me.

Jasper opened the door and came in with a cup of tea and my laptop in his hands.

He sat on the end of the bed once he had placed the cup on the sideboard. He placed the laptop on the bed beside me.

"That," he said pointing at the tea, "is from Esme." He said. "I have sorted out the location settings on your laptop so nobody but Reneé and Phil will be able to find you." He told me and I smiled, getting out of Edward's embrace to hug him. I clambered down to the bottom of the bed and wrapped my arms around him, and he secured his around my back.

"Thanks, Jasper." I told him honestly.

For a minute I felt a heavy wave of love and compassion and I realised that Jasper was showing what he felt for me.

"I love you, too." I mumbled into his ear.

After a moment I began to feel a little shy so I pulled away and climbed back over to where Edward was sitting on the bed.

Jasper chuckled. "No need, Bella, isn't this what big brothers are for after all?" He asked me laughing.

"Yeah I suppose, I never had one before remember." I asked, giggling.

"Well you got two now!" Jasper said, letting his southern accent come into his voice. I realised that Jasper never spoke like that around other people, or at school. That he just does it when he is at home and with people who he is comfortable with. I smile to myself upon realising this.

Jasper touches my hand reassuringly before getting up and leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

"When will she be here?" I asked Edward quietly.

"She will be here mid-morning tomorrow, she has booked a night flight for her and Phil for tonight and will be arriving in England tomorrow morning. I'm sorry Bella." He told me.

"Why on earth are you sorry, you have done nothing but help me and be supportive." I told him, letting the irritation I am feeling show in my voice.

"I don't know, if I hadn't given in and let you go down to the reservation, none of this would have happened." He said, his head down.

"Hey." I said, putting my index finger below his chin and requesting he lift his head to look at me.

"You are not at fault here, you were giving me what I wanted, if anyone is to blame it's me." I said solemnly, "Please believe me." I told him.

"I believe you, but this was not your fault either. Let's just settle that nobody is to blame but Jacob, Charlie and Reneé?" He asked me, the tone of his voice lightening.

"Okay." I agreed before snuggling back into his chest and tucking my head into his shoulder.

"What do you want to do today?" He asked me.

"I have no idea, what do you want to do today?" I asked him and he chuckled.

"I am going to spend the day on the sofa watching movies with my fiancée." He told me with a damn beautiful grin on his face.

"And will your fiancée like that?" I asked him giggling.

He kissed my forehead. "She most certainly will." He said before kissing my lips.

"Come downstairs when you are ready." He told me before kissing me chastely and heading out of the door.

I took a shower and got myself ready, before taking off downstairs in search of Edward. I walked down the stairs to find nobody in the living room, but I found Esme in the kitchen.

"Morning." I told her, sitting on a bar stool.

"Good morning, Sweetheart, how are you feeling this morning?" She asked me, concerned.

I smiled at the amount of compassion in her eyes.

"I am feeling okay, I guess, I know that I don't need her in my life, she just doesn't seem to understand that I am happy here, happier than I have been in a very long time. I know you heard what she said." I confidently said the first part and then mumbled the last part of the sentence to her.

"I did, Sweetheart, we all did, but it doesn't mean we love you or think of you any less than we did before the conversation with Reneé." Esme told me, coming around the island to take my hand securely in hers.

"I know, but she hurt you, I saw the look on Carlisle's face, that's when I lost my temper." I told Esme, with my head down.

"Bella, Carlisle was angry, but not with you, I don't even think he could be angry with you if he tried, he is the same with Alice and Rose." Esme told me, smiling at a memory she was recalling in her head.

"Yeah, but it's different for me, I'm not his daughter." I told her with my head down.

 **Carlisle POV**

I came through the door of the garage and heard Bella and Esme talking in the kitchen, I had no idea where the others were.

I had just come from the hospital, some of the senior members of staff had heard of a Dr Cullen before but I was quick to tell them that I have an older brother that lives in New York with his family.

I put my car keys back onto the hook in the garage and made my way through the house and into the kitchen.

" _Bella, Carlisle was angry, but not with you, I don't even think he could be angry with you if he tried, he is the same with Alice and Rose."_ I heard Esme say to Bella, she must have seen my reaction to Renee's phone call, this wasn't good. I leant against the doorframe of the kitchen door and listened intently to their conversation.

" _Yeah, but it's different for me, I'm not his daughter."_ Bella told Esme, her head in her hands.

"I will be hearing no such thing." I said, startling Bella, Esme already knew I was here, of course.

Bella turned around in my direction as I strode into the kitchen. I took a seat on the barstool beside Bella and took the hand, that wasn't in Esme's, in mine.

 _"_ Bella, listen to me." I said and she looked up at me.

"You are very much my daughter, I love and cherish you the same I do, Rosalie and Alice. You have no idea how happy I am that you feel the same way about us, that Esme and I feel about you, we see you as a third daughter." I said to her. I saw that her eyes had turned glassy with unshed tears.

Bella got up and I did the same. She put her arms around my waist and I hugged her back, the way a father should, in fact I wonder if she has ever had anything like this from Charlie, whether she feels the same way now. After a few moments Bella looked up at me, a questioning gaze met my eyes and she wiped away her tears with her hand.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked me hesitantly.

"Of course, Sweetheart." I told her, not letting go of her hand as she asked her question.

Bella took a deep breath and looked back up at me.

"I wanted to ask you something about the wedding…" She trailed off. I didn't interrupt, I just let her speak.

"I know that we have told Alice we want it small, just family and that, but, I know you are probably supposed to be with Edward and…" She rambled, trying to get the words out.

"Bella, calm down, what do you want to ask me?" I asked her.

"I know you are supposed to be with Edward, but I was wondering if you, if you would give me away…" She asked me, looking down at her feet.

I couldn't believe it, Bella wanted me to give her away when she married. She didn't want Reneé or Charlie, she wanted… me? I was ecstatic, I could not believe it.

"You want… me?" I asked her, not wanting to distress her.

Bella looked back down at her shoes.

"Well… yeah, I mean I would understand if you didn't want to, but…" She said before I interrupted her.

I put my index finger under her chin and raised her head so she was looking at me.

"Bella… it would be my absolute pleasure." I told her smiling.

Bella grinned and bit her bottom lip, looking happier than I had seen her in a long time. I pulled her in for a hug which she easily complied to. Esme came back into the kitchen smiling at us, having heard our conversation.

Bella pulled back from the hug looking at Esme questioningly. "Esme? Where are the others?" She asked.

"That is a good question." I said, turning to look at Esme.

"They have gone hunting, they left after Emmett and Jasper practically dragged Edward out of the door because you needed to talk to Carlisle about something."

Realisation hit Bella like a ton of bricks. She smiled, "Oh, okay." She said before leaving the kitchen and heading back upstairs to grab her laptop that Jasper took up there earlier.

Esme came and sat beside me on the barstool Bella just got up from.

"How did it go at the hospital?" Esme asked, curiously.

"It went well, I'm going to start on 3 days a week, I want to spend more time at home I think, it might be easier with the transition of things." I told her. "Where have they really gone?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"God, you are good, married for 100 years and you can still read me like a book, I need to change tactics." She told me, giggling. I chuckled at her.

"Alice and Rose are out looking for a new car for Alice, as planned but Alice wants to be prepared. The boys are trying to figure out a way to stop Reneé and Phil from getting here, but they are coming up empty." Esme said sadly.

I caught her hand in my own. "Hey, it's okay." I told her, running my knuckles down her cheek. "You know as well as I do she wouldn't go down without one hell of a fight…" I trailed off and she laughed a little, shaking her head.

"I know, I would like to speak to Reneé myself to be honest, but I don't want her anywhere near Bella, she is hurting her now and she isn't even here." She told me sadly. "You know, Bella told me that the reason that she got angry yesterday was because she saw the reaction on your face." Esme told me sombrely, "She realised that Reneé was not only hurting her, but hurting her family as well." Esme told me, placing her head on my shoulder, I kissed her forehead and we stood holding each other in the kitchen until Rose, Emmett, Edward, Alice and Jasper came through the front door, noisily.


	11. Chapter 11

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 11**

 **Esme POV**

Carlisle and I let each other go as Edward, Emmett, Jasper, Alice and Rosalie came bounding through the living room door. They walked through the living room and sat down on the sofas, laughing, as Emmett turned on the TV. I smiled to myself, I realised that they hadn't been like this in such a long time, happy together and spending time together. I have seen the most change in Rosalie, she has become a friendlier and well-rounded person, but that fire is still there in her eyes, this makes me smile. I am so proud of them, all of them. Edward has changed so much since he met Bella, before I was beginning to lose hope with him altogether, but now all I see is a completely different being when I look at him. Alice hasn't really changed, except for the fact that she enjoys the new shopping partner of course! Alice knew her and Bella would be best friends before Bella even came to Forks, we just didn't know they would be this close. I was so proud of Emmett and Jasper, they had taken the roles of being Bella's big brothers in their stride, and they do a fantastic job protecting her, just like they do for Alice and Rose. Edward looked up and smiled at me, having heard my thoughts. I smiled back at him sitting on the armchair opposite Rosalie. Carlisle came back into the living room also. At that moment Bella came down the stairs with her laptop in her hand. She came over from the stairs and sat on the sofa beside Edward.

"Did you have fun?" She asked, placing the laptop on her lap and opening the lid.

"Yeah it was okay." Edward said, placing his arm along the back of the sofa around Bella.

' _Guess that means you didn't think of anything then?'_ I thought and Edward shook his head. I sighed and realised that Reneé would not be anywhere near Bella anyway, even if she does get here.

Bella typed the password into her laptop, as the rest of us watched the television. We didn't find much joy in television, it was just a way to pass time. Bella's laptop loaded and about 20 alert tones went off one after the other.

"Oh my…" Bella said, looking at her laptop screen.

"Bella what is it?" Jasper asked her, concerned.

Bella sighed. "Because I won't answer the phone, she is emailing me instead, I have 33 emails from her, but none of them say she is on her way here, she must be counting on surprising us." Bella said, smiling a little at the last part, with Alice on our side, we would never be surprised.

"What do they say?" Carlisle asked her, also concerned.

Bella began clicking on emails and reading them aloud. 'Bella, where are you, I want to come and get you', 'I don't understand why you would do this, Charlie said he said he was sorry', 'Can you come home?'

"God, she really doesn't get it does she?" Alice asked, dumbfounded.

"Nope, she really doesn't." Bella said, closing the lid of the laptop down.

We sat in the living room talking about of best strategy for tomorrow when the phone suddenly rang. Carlisle got up to answer the phone.

I saw Alice go into a trance before coming around again and shouting.

"Don't answer that!" She said, just in time, Carlisle's hand was on the phone and about to take it off the cradle.

"Uh, why?" Rosalie asked, confused.

"It's Forks PD." Alice said solemnly, looking at Bella.

"Charlie? How on earth did he do that?" Bella asked, surprised.

"Reneé could have told him." Alice said. "I was so sure that he had no idea how to find us, that I wasn't even looking at what he was doing, sorry Bella." Alice said, still sitting beside Bella on the sofa.

Bella placed the laptop on the coffee table and turned around to face Alice. Bella took one of Alice's hands in both of hers.

"Alice, you have nothing to be sorry for, I mean I hardly think that Charlie knowing will make a difference will it? Reneé and Phil are on their way here already." Bella told her comfortingly.

Alice looked up from her shoes to look at Bella. "You're not mad?" She asked uncertain.

"Of course not, there is nothing for me to be mad at you for." Bella said, smiling at Alice.

"Okay." Alice said, smiling at Bella.

Bella took her hand back and turned around to go and take her seat next to Edward.

"So, what exactly are we doing when they are here?" Rosalie asked.

"You and Bella are going to find a car for Alice. Esme, me and the boys are staying here to speak with Bella's mother and stepfather." Carlisle said.

"Yeah, Alice what time are they arriving?" Bella asked.

"They should be getting here at about 10AM, so early-ish." Alice told her and she nodded.

"And we are leaving at what time?" Bella asked.

"Uh, about 9:30?" Alice asked questioningly.

"Yeah, okay." Bella said, taking her phone off the table and unlocking it.

She looked up after a few minutes.

"Jasper?" Bella looked over to him.

"Yeah?" He asked, looking up at her.

"Can you just, like, block the number or something?" She asked, grimacing.

"I'll have a look, throw it."

Bella looked at Jasper nervously.

"Don't worry, I'll catch it!" Jasper said in a playful tone.

 **Bella POV**

I threw the phone and he put his arm and caught it with one hand.

I raised my eyebrows before turning to the side and snuggling further into Edward's side.

"Show off." I muttered into Edwards shoulder. I heard Jasper chuckle before sending me a wave of mild annoyance and fondness.

I looked up at him and smiled when I caught him smiling in my direction.

 **Carlisle POV**

"Bells?" Jasper asked.

She looked up at him. "Hmm?" She asked him.

Jasper went to throw the phone and then put his arm down realising that she wasn't going to catch it. Bella let Jasper feel her mild annoyance but then drowned that out with her affection for him.

We all sat down on the sofas together as a family, it had been so long since we had done that. I looked around affectionately at my family, we had been incomplete for so long, and here we are.

Edward looked up from Bella to me and smiled. He had obviously read my thoughts, and by the way he was smiling affectionately at Esme, she was thinking the exact same thing I was.

…

We sat in the living room for the rest of the afternoon talking as a family and discussing what was going to happen tomorrow. The late afternoon sky disappeared behind the mountains revealing the beautiful night sky that followed.

Bella was curled up on the sofa, snuggling up to Edward's side with her head on his shoulder.

"You alright Bella?" Emmett asked her, obviously concerned.

"Yeah, just tired, thanks." She muttered, closing her eyes and letting herself rest on Edward's shoulder.

"Just go to sleep love, I will take you up later." Edward murmured in her ear.

"Kay, love you." She murmured, falling asleep already.

"Love you too." He whispered as she fell into a deep sleep.

 **Edward POV**

Bella had fallen asleep at my side a while ago, her head resting on my shoulder. After a while she began to fidget so I picked her up and placed her on my lap. She stirred a bit but soon fell back to sleep, her head resting on my chest.

After a while everyone dispersed to do their own things to do, so I picked up Bella and carried her upstairs to our room to rest properly. I rolled down the comforter and placed her between it and the bottom sheet, her head resting idly on the pillows beneath her head.

"Goodnight, love. Sweet dreams." I whispered, kissing her head before walking around the other side of the bed, sliding into the bed beside her and pulling her into my arms.

…

"No!" Bella shouted in her sleep.

I was drawn from my daydreams by the pain in Bella's voice. At hearing Bella's pleas everyone had now congregated around the bed in a panic.

"No! Please don't do this!" Bella moaned, struggling in her sleep, fighting against herself.

"Jasper, Carlisle! Help me she's going to hurt herself." I pleaded with my father and brother.

Carlisle placed his hands over her legs so that she didn't injure herself by struggling. I was holding her hands in front of her so that she didn't hit anything with them. Jasper was whispering to Bella, trying to calm her down without controlling her emotions.

"Bella! Wake up! It's only a dream, darlin'!" Jasper whispered in her ear.

Bella froze in her sleep before gasping and sitting up bolt straight in the bed, narrowly avoiding Jasper.

Bella looked around the room, studying everyone's faces before her eyes landed on me.

"Edward!" She yelled, throwing herself at me and sealing her arms around my neck.

"Hey. Hey, it's alright, just a bad dream! What was it about, love?" I soothed her, wrapping my arms around her waist and kissing her hair.

"Jacob." She whispered breathlessly.

I had to suppress a growl and by the sound of Jasper's and Emmett's thoughts, the exact same thoughts were going through their heads. Not only had that _mongrel_ physically injured her, leaving bruises on her back and wrists, but he was now intruding her nightmares as well.

"Love, you are going to be perfectly fine, we will protect you, I promise." I promised her.

"I love you." She whispered in my ear.

I smiled.

"I love you, too." I told her, grasping her tighter.

Everyone left the room, but not before kissing Bella's forehead and wishing her goodnight.

"Try to go back to sleep, sweetheart." Carlisle told her before leaving the room.

Bella lay her head back on the cushions before snuggling up to me and falling back to sleep.

 **Bella POV**

I woke up the next afternoon from a nap with a cold arm wrapped around my shoulder. I knew straight away that it wasn't Edward. I opened my eyes to reveal the gold eyes of Rosalie. My expression must have shown my confusion because she laughed before she spoke.

"Edward is out back with Emmett and Jasper, from the sound of it they are sparring each other. Are you okay?" She asked me, concerned.

"Yeah…" I trailed off.

"Bella." Rosalie chastised me and I didn't miss the sisterly concern in her voice.

The truth was that I was terrified, I was terrified of what was going to happen when my mother and Phil arrived, I was terrified of Jacob coming back into my life and ruining everything, and most of all, I was terrified about losing my family that I loved so much.

"Is it about the nightmare?" Rosalie asked and I nodded slowly.

"Bella, what are you afraid of?" Rosalie asked the question quietly but I knew that she actually cared. I was so happy that my relationship with Rosalie has changed drastically. The main changes started to happen when Alice, Edward and I came back from Voltera after she told Edward that I had tried to kill myself.

 _ **FLASHBACK**_

" _Bella, can I talk to you outside for a moment?" Rosalie asked me._

 _I had just walked into the Cullen house with Edward, we were going to spend the day in our meadow but Alice wanted to talk to me first._

 _I looked at Edward unsure and he nodded at me._

" _Um, yeah sure." I stuttered._

 _Rosalie smiled a gleaming smile and continued to make her way down the stairs. She took my had in hers and lead me over towards the back door. We walked over to the woven seating on the deck and she sat down beside me. I must have looked worried because she laughed before speaking._

" _there's no need to be worried, Bella, I just want to talk." She laughed._

" _Oh, okay." I laughed nervously._

" _Bella, I wanted to apologise." I wasn't expecting those words to come from her mouth. Out of all of the Cullen's, Rosalie has always been the one that has been most cold towards me and I didn't understand why she was apologising to me._

" _Bella, I don't think you understand. I am apologising not only for what happened to Edward, but I wanted to apologise for how I have treated you this past year. I now realise that it has only every been in your best interest to love Edward and the rest of our family, I realised as soon as you risked everything to go and save my brother. Bella, I know it is a lot to ask and I know that you probably think I am doing this because Emmett asked me to, but I really am not. I want to be your sister, Bella. I really want the same relationship with you that you have with Alice. Please, Bella, I am really sorry." Rosalie said quickly, if I wasn't focusing on the conversation I am sure that I would have missed half of what Rose said._

" _Rosalie, there is honesty no need to apologise to me, I understand why you did what you did, really I do. I would love to be your sister, it's what I've wanted for a while. I want to be able to do the things that I do with Alice with you, in fact, I know it's going to sound completely crazy but maybe we could go shopping or something? Me and you have never really spent that much time together and I would love to get to know you Rosalie." I told her._

 _Rosalie grinned triumphantly and then I was in her embrace. At first I froze, I had never been hugged by Rose before, she never really paid a lot of attention to me. After half a second I hugged her back and I knew that Rosalie and I were going to be able to have the sisterly relationship that Alice and I already shared._

 _ **END OF FLASHBACK**_

"Jacob." My answer was only one word but Rosalie understood completely.

Rose's grip on my shoulder tightened and I moved in closer to her side as a stray tear ran down my face.

"Bella, you don't need to be afraid of Jacob." She cooed as she stroked my hair.

"But what is he starts a war, or comes after me, after us? Jacob told me that he'd 'get me in the end', what if he comes here and tries to hurt one of you, Rosalie it would kill me if one of you were hurt." I cried.

"Bella, you need to listen to me. Jacob Black will not touch you ever gain, if he ever comes on our land again he will be killed, Edward will see to that. What that _dog_ tried to do was unforgivable Bella, and if he ever tries to touch you there won't be a member of our family that will let him get away alive, we will protect you from him Bella, you know that…" Rosalie trailed off.

I knew that the Cullen's would protect me at all costs. However, I also knew that if Jacob dared to show up here, that every member of the Cullen clan would want their piece of flesh and I wouldn't be able to deny it of them. I knew from the da that Jacob tried to force himself upon me that Jasper, Emmett and Edward wanted to kill Jacob for what he had done. It was only me asking then not to that changed their decision. After what he had done I had talked with Edward about it and I now know that Carlisle too wanted to hurt Jacob for what he tried to do to me that night. Edward told me that Rosalie was immediately angry and at first I didn't understand, it was only after I heard her story that I understood why she was so angry with _him._ I know that Alice was incredibly angry too, I learnt this when I told her the full story of what happened. Alice was the only person that I had told the full story to, besides Carlisle, but I knew that Edward knew. I couldn't expect them to hide it from it, nor would I ask it of them.

"I know; I just worry about it…" I said, resting my head on her shoulder.

"I know what will cheer you up." Rosalie said, and I lifted my head from her shoulder, curious.

"Please do not say shopping." I grimaced and she laughed.

"Actually, I was going to suggest watching the boys spar with each other downstairs, but if you'd rather go shopping?" Rosalie left the question hanging.

"No, let's go down and see what they are up to." I said, going to stand up and get changed.

I came out of the bathroom three minutes later wearing a rather cute light blue summer dress with a white bikini on underneath that Alice bought on one of our many shopping excursions.

I turned to walk out from the door but suddenly Rose was standing in front of me.

"actually, I thought we should surprise them." Rosalie whispered, a devilish grin on her face.

"Let's do it, never pass up the opportunity to surprise Edward. What are you doing to keep him out of your head? I wondered.

"Thinking about Emmett." Rosalie said shortly, her grin growing wider.

"Right. What do you have in mind?" I wondered.

Rosalie leant in and whispered her plan to me. We were going to jump right in the middle of them and catch them off guard. I jumped up onto Rosalie's back and she climbed up the side of the railing that went around the balcony of mine and Edward's room. You could see the boys on the beach sparring, Carlisle and Alice were sitting on one of the nearby boulders watching. Rosalie jumped over the edge and ran at full speed to the beach. We hid behind a rock waited for the opportune moment.

"Won't they hear my heartbeat?" I panicked.

"No, Jasper and Em aren't attuned to it so they won't be able to pick it out this close. Edward would normally be able to but he's far too focused on Emmett's and Jasper' s thoughts right not to notice anything.

"Okay, let's go." I whispered.

Alice looked up at us when we walked out of the boulder and grinned, already knowing the outcome of what was about to happen. Rosalie ran and then jumped at full speed into the centre of the circle that boys were circling each other in. The look of surprise on their faces was definitely worth a million bucks. I don't think that I have ever seen Edward surprised until now, the look of shock on his face was picture worthy. I jumped down from Rosalie's back and began to laugh, I walked over to Edward and closed his mouth that dropped open with surprise.

"Should have known you two were up to something when Alice started to recite the alphabet over and over again." Edward said, annoyed that he had allowed himself to be surprised.

"Oh, come on, it's nice to see you in shock every once in a while, Eddie." Emmett joked and then ran when Edward growled at him, running after him down the beach.

"Idiots." I jumped in surprise when I heard Alice speak behind me.

"Yep, that's one-hundred-year-old teenagers for you." I laughed, walking over to the shore and walking in the slowly coming-in tide.

"The tide won't be coming n fully for another forty minutes, what a swim?" Alice said behind me and then I realised why she had left out a swimsuit with today's outfit.

I nodded and grinned and soon Alice and I were slipping out of our clothes, closely followed by Rosalie. Alice quickly ran our clothes back over to the rocks so that they wouldn't get wet. We stepped further into the water and I realised that it was warm. I expected the water to be cold, although it was summer time in the United Kingdom. Even though the sun had gone down an hour ago, it was still warm outside and I was glad, I had definitely missed the heat. Rosalie, Alice and I waded out until the water was at our shoulders, Rosalie had of course tied her hair into a perfectly shaped bun in a bid to try to keep her hair dry. As soon as the boys noticed what we were doing, they raced back into the house to get into their swimming gear, they came back out thirty seconds later clad in swimming shorts. Before I could blink, Edward, Emmett and Jasper were in the water, completing the circle.

"I have an idea." Emmett said, a childish grin on his face.

I looked at Edward who was also smiling. This was good, it means that there were no dangerous situations involved where I could be injured.

"What?" I asked curiously.

"Water fight?" he suggested, his childish grin expanding.

"Let's do it!" Alice said, swimming back to shore and coming back thirty seconds later with two arms full of water pistols and water balloons full of water.

"Teams?" Jasper asked.

"Let's just do pairs, make life easier. Me and Bella, you and Alice and Emmett and Rosalie?" Edward suggested.

"Yeah okay." He agreed.

Each team separated to discuss tactics.

"Jasper is really good a this so I suggest that you get on my shoulders to make us taller?" Edward whispered in my ear, hoping that the others would not hear.

"Okay, Carlisle referee?" Emmett called. Carlisle, who was still sitting on the rocks with Esme, nodded his head.

"Ready? Three, two, One! Go!" Carlisle shouted and the fight started.

I was up on Edwards shoulders throwing water balloons at them, the boys mostly. I was doing quite well; I could always throw pretty well. However, soon enough, Rose and Alice figured out what we were doing and they ended up on their mate's shoulders.

In the end, it ended up as a fight of who could remain on their partners' shoulders for the longest. Rosalie and Emmett were out first after Alice threw a water balloon at Rosalie and it exploded all over her hair. Her screech startled Emmett and he fell backwards, effectively throwing Rosalie into the water. Surprisingly, Edward and I were the ones to win, but only just. Alice had a vision doing our water duel and she ended up stumbling back off Jasper's shoulders.

"Ha! We win!" I cheered along with a laughing Edward.

After everybody's laughter had died down, we decided to have another round. However, this time we rotated partners so I was on Emmett's shoulders, Rose was on Jasper's and Alice was on Emmett's. we played for another forty minutes until we crowned our second winner. This time Alice and Edward won but it was surprisingly hard to compete with a future-seer and a mind reader during a water fight.

After that, we made our way back to shore where Carlisle, Esme and a large pile of towels greeted us. We each wrapped ourselves in a towel and we made our way back up to the house. We all showered and changed before making our way back downstairs to the family room where Carlisle and Esme were. I disappeared into the kitchen and ate some of the soup that Esme made earlier before walking back into the house. We sat around the fire as a family, discussing stories and talking about their experiences with school. It was so nice to be able to relax with a family that I knew really cared about me, but It was only a matter of time before my mother and my stepfather arrived tomorrow, and we didn't yet know how that would change things.


	12. Chapter 12

_**THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF THE FEEDBACK. FIRSTLY, I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY STORY, DON'T READ IT. SECONDLY, AAROND1 AND DEBBIE HICKS I THANK YOU FOR YOUR FEEDBACK AND WILL TRY TO INCORPORATE IT INTO THE NEXT CHAPTERS. I REALLY HOPE YOU ARE ENJOYING MY STORY AND I HOPE YOU KEEP REVIEWING, IM TRYING TO UPDATE ONCE EVERY FEW WEEKS, IF I DON'T IM SORRY :) PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE NEXT FEW CHAPTERS!**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER -**_ _ **I DO NOT OWN THE TWILIGHT FRANCHISE OR ANY OTHER FRANCHISES MENTIONED IN THIS STORY**_

 **We Are Family**

 **Chapter 12**

 **Renée POV**

Phil and I arrived in London at around 8:30AM, half an hour earlier than as expected. We were here to get _my_ daughter and bring her home.

We walked out of the airport together, clutching our luggage and each other's hand. We made our way silently to the car rental place so that we could get from the airport to Bella. We had come here to get my daughter back, and that is exactly what I intend to do. These _people_ that have obviously deluded her into moving away with them. She called them her _family_ , but Charlie, Phil and myself are the only family she needs. I have only met Edward's family once, after Bella had that awful accident in Phoenix. Edward's father seemed very nice, but he was also incredibly attractive for a doctor his age. I spoke briefly with Edward's mother, Esme I think her name was, or Emma or Esmee, and she seemed nice, a very motherly person who obviously cared a great deal for her children. I spoke with Edward's sister Alice briefly too, she seemed very odd and I ended up pretending that my phone was ringing just to get away. As I recall, Edward has another 2 brothers and another sister, a blonde haired girl who was dating the big brother with the broad shoulders and another blonde haired boy that looked like he was in pain when I saw him in the family waiting room.

On the journey here Phil told me that he had spoken to Bella and how he had been treated by one of her _brothers._ I could not believe it when he told me, that he was been treated by a 17-year-old, it was ludicrous and it showed that Edwards parents let their children get away with anything. They obviously bought their children up without any manners, they must be terrible parents, which is one of the reasons is coming home with me.

Phil made his way through the double doors into the rental car depot and returned few moments later with the keys and the necessary paperwork we needed. He took a hold of my hand and lead me towards a car in the lot. He unlocked the car and opened the trunk so that we could put in our luggage and the other items we had with us. Phil took my luggage from me and put it into the trunk whilst I got into the car and put on my seatbelt. Phil closed the trunk and came over to the driver's side, getting in and putting the key into the ignition.

"Ready?" He asked me.

I turned around to look at him.

"Yeah, let's go get my daughter back." I said confidently talking my hand in his as we pulled out of the parking lot.

…

Phil pulled onto the motorway towards Cardigan Bay, driving at a steady speed. The navigation system told us that we were 2 hours 24 minutes away from our destination which made me smile, in less than three hours I would get to see my daughter again. During our phone call a few days ago, Bella told me that she didn't want to see or speak to me, she must have been joking, she needs a mother figure in her life and I am obviously the only woman for the job. I thought back to when Bella was a child, she was always a very quiet child, she was into reading and didn't enjoy spending a lot of time around other people. I would go through phases and Bella would just be same old Bella, she was quite a dull child actually. She always has been quiet and a little dull, which made me wonder how she had got the attention of someone like Edward, I mean she is sweet but he looks like a supermodel. It makes me wonder why out of all the girls I'm sure he has trailing after him; why did he pick Bella? It was odd really.

We were driving along a road, Phil was concentrated on driving and I was admiring the beautiful scenery that this small town held. The mountains in the distance separating the land and the sky and the vast forest that surrounded the road.

"We're here." Phil said a little glumly, snapping me from my reverie. I was beginning to wonder is that threat had scared him. I fought back a laugh, he was here to help and support me after all.

We came face to face with a large pair of wooden gates with an intricate iron cladding weaving itself around the edges. As Phil reached out of the window to press the intercom, the gates opened before us revealing a long drive surrounded by: woodland, vast bushes of ivy, large rose bushes, and multiple arrays of plants and bushels.

We reached the mouth of the drive. Before us stood a beautiful modern white house with bold features and large glass windows.

"Wow!" I muttered to myself and by the awed expression on Phil's face, he was thinking the exact same thing as I was.

' _Wow these people are loaded'_

We both got out of the car, slamming the doors behind us, and met in front of the bonnet. He took my hand in both of his.

"You ready for this?" He asked me uncertainly.

"Yes, there is nothing that can keep my daughter away from me, not this family, not anybody." I told him confidently, smiling.

We walked up the stairs to the vast wooden door before Phil wrapped his knuckles on it three times, then stepping back and waiting for someone to open the door.

 **Bella POV**

I was woken up by someone shaking my shoulder.

"Bella, Bella! Come on!" Alice moaned at me.

"Alice! Go away! I'm tired!" I moaned back sleepily. I heard Edward chuckle from his place in the bed next to me. I turned over and rested my head on his chest and waited for sleep to take me once again.

Alice sighed and huffed.

"Your mother is going to be here in an hour." Alice said.

I sat up bolt straight in the bed, not caring what I could possibly hit.

"I'm awake! Give me a few minutes yeah, Alice?" I asked in a pleading tone.

"You have half an hour! I want a new car!" Alice stated before turning on her heel and heading out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"Alice you just got a new car!" I shouted after her.

I turned to Edward. "Uh, what time is it?" I asked, yawning.

"It is, 8:30." He told me.

"Uh, then why am I awake right now?" I asked confused.

Edward's face turned apologetic. "Their flight was ahead of schedule and it arrived early, Alice didn't see it until this morning when you were sleeping so she had to wait to tell you because Carlisle and Esme wouldn't let her wake you up." He told me solemnly.

"Oh, right." I murmured, realising why I was awake and what was happening today.

"I'll go and wait for you downstairs, but if you don't want to be dragged by Alice I'd get up." He told me laughing.

I smuggled back down and laid by head back on his chest. He chuckled. I looked up at him and gave my best puppy dog eyes.

"You won't let her drag me out of bed will you?" I asked, grinning.

"She wouldn't dare, I don't want you here when she gets here." He told me confidently. I laughed.

"I had better get up; youre right, I don't want to be here when she gets here. Just promise me something?" I asked sweetly.

He looked down at me. "What?" He wondered.

"Don't let Emmett and Jasper hurt them, you know as well as I do they are dying to get a crack at Phil after _that_ phone call." I almost begged.

Edward opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by Emmett.

"Bella!" Emmett shouted up the stairs.

"What?" I asked back.

"Didn't I already promise?" He shouted back.

"Yeah, I suppose." I said, laying back down on Edward's chest.

"They wouldn't do it you know, they _want_ to but they want to protect you more and hurting them isn't going to protect you is it?" He whispered in my ear.

I smiled at the compassion in his voice.

"No I guess it wouldn't." I reluctantly replied, earning a laugh from Emmett.

…

I came down the stairs 45 minutes later to come face to face with Alice, holding my jacket in her outstretched hand.

"Wow, you're really excited!" I told her laughing.

Jasper and Emmett laughed earning themselves a look of annoyance from Alice.

Rose came in through the kitchen and wished me a good morning and a smile, she touched my shoulder lightly and took her seat next to Emmett.

I looked around all of the faces in the room, Carlisle looked focused, so did Esme. Jasper and Emmett continued to play their video game, Rose was leaning back against the sofa and Alice was bouncing away, waiting to leave.

"So, when are we leaving?" I asked Alice.

"Whenever, do you want to go now?" She asked excitedly.

"Will she be here soon?" I mumbled, but they could all hear me anyway so it didn't really matter.

"In about 15 minutes but Carlisle is planning on opening the gates when they get here, he wants to talk to your mother." Rose replied.

I flinched when she said your mother but I am sure the only one that noticed was Jasper because of the wave of warmth and love he sent at me. I looked up and smiled at him, knowing he could see both me and the video game he was still playing with Emmett.

"Let's go now then." I said, picking up my jacket and my phone off the table.

"Okay, Carlisle can you call when they leave, I can't see she isn't making her mind up?" She asked Carlisle, getting up and reaching for the black trench coat she didn't even need.

"Yes, I will call when she leaves, well, if she doesn't cause problems like I have a feeling she will as soon as she realises Bella isn't here." He said resting his head on his hand that was balanced on his right knee.

Alice shot Carlisle a sympathetic look.

"Okay, we'll see you later then." She said.

Rosalie and I stood up also, saying goodbye to everybody and I kissed Edward before following Alice and Rosalie out of the door to the garage.

I walked into the garage to find Alice and Rosalie discussing what car to take. When I walked in they turned around looking very triumphant.

"Do not bother, I can't drive I'm a nervous wreck." I told them shaking my head.

Alice grimaced, "Okay then, let's take my car, you're okay driving that home, Rose?"

"Yeah, I don't mind." Rosalie said, nodding her head.

Alice grinned and clapped her hands.

"Okay! Let's go!" She said excitedly.

We walked over to Alice's canary coloured car. Rosalie got into the back seat and I got into the passenger side. Alice was around the driver's side in a flash and putting the key into the ignition.

 **Edward POV**

We had just heard Alice, Bella and Rose pull out of the garage and down the drive.

"How long before they get here?" I asked.

"Um, about fifteen minutes according to Alice." Carlisle said from the kitchen.

"Okay then, I'm going hunting, I won't be long." I said getting up and heading for the back door.

"I'm coming." Jasper said, getting up and following me out the door.

"Hey, wait up guys!" Emmett whined, flashing onto the back deck and closing the door behind him.

' _We need to get further away than this, Carlisle and Esme can still hear us.'_ Jasper thought.

I nodded my head once in took off in a northern direction, heading away from the house so that Carlisle and Esme can't hear us.

…

We were about 15 miles away from the house when we stopped running. We were in the middle of a forest so I was sure that nobody could hear us, I would hear their thoughts anyway.

We all turned to face each other.

"So, what is Carlisle _inviting_ them here for if we can't kill them?" Emmett asked, folding his arms.

"He wants to talk to her about the incidents when she was younger, he has already been thinking of rules that we need to obtain to."

Emmett huffed and Jasper crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

"What are the rules?" Jasper asked.

"Well, first and foremost we and not allowed to kill them or hurt them in any way. He also thought that we should let them do the talking. He did not say, however, that Jasper can't mess with their emotions." I said.

Jasper smirked and Emmett hit his fists together.

"Eddie, you know that we wouldn't kill them, even though we really want to. We don't want to upset Bella." Emmett said, placing a hand on my shoulder in brotherly reassurance.

"Shall we go back to the house then? They'll be here soon?" I asked and both of them took off into a run in the other direction, I followed and we were at the house in a matter of minutes.

"Have fun?" Esme asked as we walked through the door.

I nodded and shot off upstairs to get a medical text I was re-reading, I needed something to occupy myself for the next few minutes.

As I came back down the stairs I heard a car pull up in front of our gates.

"They're early." Carlisle said, striding in our direction from the kitchen.

"It would appear so." Esme said glumly.

"Are we opening them?" Emmett asked.

"Yes, we are." Carlisle said, walking over to the keypad on the wall.

The gates opened slowly and in pulled a small car, two people stepped out of the car and met in front of the bonnet.

' _wow these people are loaded'_ Reneé thought, and I had to smirk.

I was reading Jasper's thoughts and he was chuckling at the fact that Phil was actually terrified to be here and Jasper kept on making it worse, pushing terror at him in mass waves.

Finally, the door knocked and Carlisle and Esme went to open it.

"Uh, hello." Reneé said nervously.

"Hello, I am Carlisle and this is my wife Esme, welcome." Carlisle said.

I heard footsteps come up the stairs and soon, Reneé and Phil were standing nervously in front of us.

Jasper, Emmett and I had taken a seat on the long sofa that faces the television, with Esme and Carlisle sitting on the sofa to our left.

"Please, take a seat." Carlisle said, directing his hand towards the sofa to our right.

Reneé and Phil sat down and turned their bodies to face Carlisle and Esme.

 **Carlisle POV**

I directed Reneé and Phil to the sofa opposite the boys and took a seat on the small sofa next to Esme.

I opened my mouth to speak but was rudely interrupted.

"Where is Bella?" Phil demanded.

"Bella is out shopping with the girls, Alice wanted a new car so they have gone shopping for one." Esme said leaning forward and resting her arm against her thighs.

"She went shopping for a new car?" Reneé asked incredulously.

"Yes." Esme said, nodding her head and grimacing at the tone of disbelief in Renee's voice.

"When will she be back? I want so see her!" Reneé demanded, the volume of her voice increasing.

"You have to understand we did not know that you were coming, we had no idea because you never told us." I said, speaking directly to Reneé.

"Can I wait to see her?" Reneé asked, becoming angry.

"She will be back very late, they have driven about 130 miles to see the car that Alice wants, but it may be less because she is driving the Porsche." I said, trying to remain calm.

"The Porsche? And she wants a new one?" Reneé asked, a high level of disbelief in her voice.

"Yes, I think she wanted a new one because we have moved to a new place." I said, smiling lightly.

Reneé must have thought something awful because Jasper quickly grabbed Edward's forearm, obviously after sensing his emotions.

I grimaced before speaking my next line.

"Reneé, even if Bella was here you would not be seeing her, it is probably best you leave as soon as possible." I said, calmly. Reneé on the other hand looked outraged.

"I won't be seeing her?" She asked incredulously.

"That is correct." Esme said, raising her voice slightly.

"She is MY daughter? I can see her whenever I want." Reneé said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Reneé, you must understand, she doesn't want to see you." I said, trying to ease the situation.

"Reneé is Bella's mother! Of course she wants to see her." Phil shouted.

"I'd stop right there if I were you, after that phone call we received your lucky I'm letting you in my house at all!" I said, giving up on diffusing the tension and raising my voice instead.

"Oh please! Phil was only trying to make her see sense, Charlie apologised and I haven't done anything wrong." Reneé said, choking back a laugh.

"You haven't done anything? You are telling me that you did not lay your hands on Bella when she was young?" I said, I could feel my eyes darkening.

"Reneé did the best she could for Bella, Reneé was a great mother! How dare you!" Phil shouted.

"No, how dare you. You come into our home with the upmost disrespect and you speak to us in this manner, give me one reason I shouldn't throw you out." Esme said, raising to her feet and standing in front of Reneé.

"Because Bella is _my daughter_ and I've come to take her home, I will drag her out if I have to." She said confidently.

"Get out." I said, standing up and stepping forward to stand next to Esme.

"What?" Phil said snidely.

"I said, get out!" I shouted, raising my voice.

Both just sat there stunned.

"Did you not hear what he just said?" Jasper said, getting up to stand beside me. Phil froze, recognising the voice that had spoken to him over the phone.

Renee's mouth kept on opening like a gold fish, like she was attempting to say something but nothing was escaping her lips.

"Obviously not." Emmett said, getting up and standing beside Edward, who was now on his feet standing by Esme.

"Right then." Emmett said, taking a step closer to Phil.

"Emmett!" I murmured, too quiet for Reneé or Phil to hear.

"I'm not going to hurt them, yet." Emmett whispered, turning to us and smirking before turning back to face Phil.

Before Phil even knew what was happening, Emmett had grabbed his arm and was pushing him towards the door. Reneé finally caught on to what was happening and stood up, took her bag from the table and followed Phil out of the door.

Once they were both outside the door Emmett said, "thanks for coming, don't come again." Before slamming the door in their faces. He turned around and came back into the living room.

 **Emmett POV**

I walked back into the living room and straight into a reproving look from both Esme and Carlisle. Edward and Jasper were just laughing at what had just taken place in our living room.

"Okay, I need to call Alice, see if Reneé is coming back." Carlisle said, taking his phone out of his pocket and walking into the kitchen.

 **Carlisle POV**

" _Hello?"_ Alice said on the other end of the phone.

"They've gone." I said, happy they are out of my house.

" _They left_?" Alice asked, a level of disbelief in her voice.

"No, they were thrown out." I said, a smile making its way onto my face.

"You threw them out?" Alice asked, laughing.

"Well, technically Emmett did." I said, and she laughed even more.

"I didn't even see that coming!" She said, controlling her giggles.

"So, how are things going?" I asked.

"Well! I found the car, they are just getting the keys for me! Edward is going to be so jealous!" She squealed.

' _Yeah right, Alice'_ I heard Edward mumble in the other room.

"Alice? Is she coming back?" I asked, quieter.

"She is thinking about leaving it for a few days, to see if things die down, I think she's quite scared." Alice said, speeding off into the future.

"So it's safe for Bella to come back home?" I asked, worried for the welfare of my newest daughter.

"Yes, but Reneé isn't making her mind up whether to come back later today. When it comes down to it, it doesn't matter if Bella is with me and Rose or at home, Reneé won't get anywhere near her." Alice said confidently.

"You're right, what time you will be back?" I said.

"In about an hour and a half." She replied.

"Okay, I'll leave the gates open." I said before pressing the end button on the phone and walking back into the living room.

"They'll be back soon, although I'm sure you already know that." I said, saying the last part quieter.

"I think we should place a wager; what car Alice will come back with." Emmett said, bounding down the stairs and throwing himself onto the sofa.

"I don't think she'll come back with an Audi…" Jasper said, getting his wallet out of his pocket.

"I do, I think she'll come back with an Audi TTS, I don't even need to read her mind to know that." Edward said confidently.

"No, she will come back with an Audi R8, she'll want one because they're fast." Emmett argued.

"What do you wager?" I asked, folding my arms.

"$250 from each of us to the winner?" Emmett asked the others.

…

An hour and a half later, we heard two engines speeding up the road.

"Looks like they're back." I said, putting down a medical employment form and getting up.

A minute later, a shiny white Audi R8 pulled onto the drive closely followed by Alice's yellow Porsche driven by Rose.

"I won! You two owe me five hundred dollars!" Emmett exclaimed, coming down the stairs and sitting in the armchair in the corner of the room.

"Yeah, whatever." Jasper said, looking at Emmett over his newspaper.

The door to the garage swung open and in came Rose, Bella and Alice swinging car keys around her finger triumphantly.

Bella made a beeline for Edward and they greeted each other with a tight hug and a loving kiss.

"I need to speak with everyone." Alice said, sitting down on one of the couches.

Edward and Bella followed Alice, their hands still entwined, and sat down on the sofa opposite. Edward tensed up as soon as he heard what Alice was about to tell the rest of us.

 **Bella POV**

I felt instead of saw Edward tense beside me. His arm was wrapped securely around me waist and my head was resisting softly on his shoulder.

"Well?" Emmett said, sitting down on the arm of the chair Rose was sitting on.

"I'm sorry Bella, but Reneé will be back here later tonight. She has spoken to Charlie and she convinced him to stay in Forks by telling him she will being Bella back _by any means necessary"_ Alice said the last bit through gritted teeth.

I flinched when Alice mentioned Charlie. I tried my best to cover it but of course everybody noticed and Edward's arm was suddenly tighter around my waist. I looked down to my wrists and saw the still-yellowing bruises that were caused by my dad. Caused by Charlie. Caused by the man who hurt me. I looked up to see Jasper looking at me with a worried expression on his face. I smiled at him to let him know I was okay. He smiled and nodded once before turning his attention back to Alice.

"So, what do we do?" Emmett asked.

"I want to be here, if I talk to her she might understand, there is no way she's taking me anywhere." I said, looking up at Carlisle and Esme.

"Are you sure?" Carlisle asked me, coming to sit on the arm of the couch I was sitting on.

"Yeah, even if she did try to take me, there's no way she'd get out of the door anyway." I said. Carlisle squeezed my hand.

"Your right about that, she'd have us to deal with before she even took a step toward the door." Emmett said confidently.

I smiled at Emmett, and looked down to my wrists again. I rubbed one of the yellowing bruises.

"Are they still hurting?" Carlisle asked, I looked up at his concerned face.

"No, not any more, I just wish they'd fade faster, they are memories I don't want." I said, looking away from Carlisle and facing the rest of my family.

"What time will she be getting here?" I asked Alice.

"In about an hour, we don't need to prepare anything but we'll be fine, I don't see you leaving with her." Alice told me, grinning at her conclusion.

"She just needs to understand, there is no way in going back to Forks with her." I said, snuggling further into Edward's embrace.

"Anyway, we need to discuss the school situation. Do you all want to be in the same year or…" Esme trailed off.

"I'm not overly fussed to be honest." Rosalie said.

"Maybe we should be in the same year, besides, a certain klutz might need rescuing." Emmett said, looking pointedly at me with a stupid grin on his face.

"Shush you." I said, throwing a pillow at him which was a complete waste of time as he caught it anyway.

…

An hour later, everyone was gathered in the living room waiting for the arrival of my mother. Alice had seen that she was leaving Phil at the hotel room because she thought it might be easier if it was just her because _'Carlisle clearly didn't like Phil'._

Whilst we were waiting we had been discussing what my mother and Phil were thinking earlier when they were here.

"Why did Jasper take your arm?" Carlisle asked.

"Reneé thought something when you mentioned Alice going to buy a new car. She thought ' _when I take Bella home I hope she hasn't turned into a spoiled brat like the rest of these foggy headed people, they are clearly stupid to believe anything that Bella says',_ Edward said and I gasped slightly, believing that my mother could be so shallow.

"I am not a brat." Alice huffed as she sank into the sofa lower.

"No you're not, none of you are, just more fortunate." Esme said, placing a hand on Alice's knee.

"I can't believe she'd be so shallow." I muttered, mostly to myself.

"I know, love." Edward said, putting his arm around my shoulders and pulling my head to his shoulder.

Suddenly, something occurred to me. I was about to speak up before I was interrupted.

"Do you think we should tell Reneé that Bella and I are engaged?" Edward voiced his concern.

I looked at him with my mouth agape.

"What?" He asked, chuckling.

"I swear you said that you couldn't read my mind, I was about to ask the exact same thing." I said, putting my head back onto his shoulder.

"Like I said, I can read you like a book." He said, chuckling still.

"Yep, just like I can you." I said, snuggling further into his embrace.

Suddenly everything went silent and everyone's head but mine turned in the direction of the door.

"She's here?" I asked.

"Yes, Sweetheart. What do you want to do?" Esme asked me, getting up and smoothing out a crease in her skirt.

"I'll just stay down here, and speak to her from a distance. I know it may sound completely ridiculous and irrational but I don't even want to see her let alone speak to her." I said, looking down at my hands.

Carlisle crouched down in front of me.

"Bella, it is not ridiculous or irrational and if she goes too far she will leave. Are you ready?" Carlisle asked me, extending his hand in my direction for me to take.

I took his hand and stood up.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I said, trying to be confident, but failing.

Edward stood up and stood beside me, his arm finding its way around my waist. Carlisle walked back over to Esme who was standing closest to the door. Jasper and Alice were to the left of us and Emmett and Rose were to the right, flanking us.

We all waited and finally, knuckles wrapped on the door three times and Carlisle stepped forward to answer it.


	13. Chapter 13

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 13**

 _Edward stood up and stood beside me, his arm finding its way around my waist. Carlisle walked back over to Esme who was standing closest to the door. Jasper and Alice were to the left of us and Emmett and Rose were to the right, flanking us._

 _We all waited and finally, knuckles wrapped on the door three times and Carlisle stepped forward to answer it._

 **Bella POV**

Carlisle touched his hand onto the door handle and pulled it down slightly before pulling the door open.

"Hello." Carlisle said bluntly, stating clearly that Reneé was lucky to be stepping foot into his home, and to be quite honest, I didn't blame him.

"Bella!" Reneé shrieked, making a beeline for me.

I automatically took a step backward and Edward took a step to the left as if to shield me from her. Emmett and Jazz also took a step forward, away from Rosalie and Alice, who were also acting as barriers in front of Edward and I.

"Bella, let's just talk, then we can go home, you don't have to go back to Forks, you are coming to Jacksonville." My mom said, extending her hand.

I looked around at the faces of the family standing beside me. The faces of _my_ family standing before me. People who accepted me into their family whether I was human or not, there was no way I was leaving this evening.

I directed my sights on a hopeful Reneé.

"You have ten minutes to say what you want to say." I said bluntly.

I turned around and walked into the kitchen, signalling for my mom to follow me. I walked to the fridge and took out a bottle of water before jumping up and sitting on the kitchen counter. Reneé just stood there awkwardly.

"Well?" I asked.

"Bella you are coming home with me, now. You are not staying here." She said, looking anywhere but at me.

"Mom, if you think I'm leaving you are more deluded than I thought you were, you can't make me leave." I said, crossing my arms.

"I am your mother and you will do as I say!" My mother exploded.

"I am eighteen years old! I am fed up of making everyone else happy at my expense! You are supposed to me my mom, you're supposed to care about what I want!" I said in the same tone.

"I do what's best for you, I always have! That's why I'm here to bring you back to Jacksonville!" She shouted at me.

My mum reached out and grabbed my left hand to pull me out of the kitchen but froze when she saw my hand.

"What's that?" She exclaimed.

"Uh…" I trailed off.

"You're engaged?!" She exclaimed, yet again.

"Yes, not that it is any of your business." I said, pulling my hand away.

"None of my business!" She shouted.

"Yes, you have never stuck up for me, even now. You don't have enough of a backbone to admit that you hurt me when I was a child, and then you lied to Carlisle's face when he asked you about it!" I shouted, giving up on caring.

"How dare you!" She shouted, looking hurt.

"No, how dare you. You'd let everyone think that I was a liar, wouldn't you?"

"No! Of course not!" She said.

"Then why didn't you tell Phil before he phoned me?" I said, putting my hands on my hips.

"Because what you are doing is ridiculous, Bella."

"Oh really?" I questioned.

"Yes! You need your mother in your life!" She shouted, reaching out toward me again. I walked around the other side of the kitchen island.

"I have a mother in my life, it's just not you…" I trailed off.

"What do you mean?" She asked, her hands dropping to her sides.

"Well, Esme is sitting in there." I said, not bothering about the way my mom feels anymore, I mean she hasn't cared about my feelings.

"So, you don't even want me to give you away when you get married? Is Charlie doing it? Have you even spoken to Charlie?" She asked, her voice raising again.

"To answer your first question, no I don't want you to give me away. Secondly, Charlie isn't doing it and I haven't even spoken to Charlie."

"Then nobody is going to give you away?" She asked questioningly.

"Actually there is!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah? Who?" She asked, disbelief in her tone.

"Actually, I've asked Carlisle." I said, walking around the kitchen island to face my mom.

"You've what! He isn't your father!" Reneé shouted.

"Yeah? Well he's more of a parent than you are!" I shouted back, purely out of anger.

"Right! You're coming with me, right now!" My mom shouted, closing her hand around my wrist and attempting to pull me out of the kitchen.

 **Alice POV**

"Right! You're coming with me, right now!" I heard Bella's mother shout at her.

I heard Bella cry out in pain.

"Carlisle!" I said.

"Edward what is she planning to do?" Carlisle asked Edward.

"There are several different scenarios in her head. Drag her out of here, try to make her see sense, take her back to Forks, take her back to Jacksonville. There are about 15 possibilities." He said glumly.

"Then let's make sure they don't happen." Carlisle said, getting up from his chair and walking into the kitchen, closely followed by the rest of us. Esme, Edward and I stood at one entrance to the kitchen and Jasper, Emmett and Rose stood at the other. Carlisle walked straight through.

"Take your hands off her, now!" Carlisle shouted, startling Reneé.

Reneé ignored Carlisle and tugged once more on Bella's wrist, making Bella moan in pain once more.

At this point Edward stepped forward from my side and walked into the kitchen. He put his hand gently on Bella's arm and loosened it from Renee's grip and eventually she pulled it free.

Reneé grunted in anguish.

"Who are you? Who are any of you to say what is best for my daughter!" Reneé exclaimed.

"Go." I said.

Reneé turned around to face me, obviously startled at my contribution.

"Excuse me?" She asked incredulously.

"Leave!" I said, raising my voice further.

"Fine! You won't hear from me again! Bella, when this shambles falls down at your feet don't expect my help!" Reneé shouted before grabbing her purse and barging through Esme and I go get through the front door.

Bella turned around and buried her face in Edwards shoulder.

"Jasper?" I mumbled, too quiet for Bella to hear.

"She's not really upset, considering she's just been practically disowned. She's mostly angry." Jasper said, monitoring her emotions.

When Bella calmed down and turned around to face everyone she gave everyone a hug before everyone left the kitchen and went to their own devices. Jasper and Emmett went hunting, but they were most likely play fighting. Carlisle and Esme had gone to the school to enrol us all in their last month of the semester. Edward and Bella went out into the forest somewhere shortly after Carlisle and Esme left and I was sitting in the lounge going through dress designs on a tablet, waiting for Jasper to come back.

…

Carlisle and Esme came back into the house after their meeting at the school.

"Everyone? Come downstairs please? We need to discuss something." Carlisle said, taking a seat next to Esme on the love seat.

Once everyone was gathered around, Carlisle spoke up.

"Okay, so everyone is now enrolled at school and you will be there until the 15th of July." He said, clasping his hands in front of him.

"Are we all the same as last time?" Emmett asked.

"No, we've put you all in the same year so that you can all go back, not just Alice, Edward and Bella." Carlisle answered.

"Do we have the same surnames as last time?" Edward asked.

"Yes, Rose and Jasper are still playing the twins charade, and Alice, Edward and Emmett are still Cullen's. Bella, you also remain as Swan, which should be fine as we have paperwork stating you are in our care and as long as Reneé and Charlie don't interfere we'll be fine, everyone understood?" Carlisle asked.

"What time does the school day start here?" Emmett asked.

"9:10, an hour later than Forks High School." Carlisle said.

"Great! An extra hour sleep!" Emmett joked.

"Your such an idiot." Rosalie said, hitting Emmett with a cushion from the couch they were sitting on.

"Is that all the questions?"

Everyone nodded and Carlisle stood up, saying he was going to finish the forms required for the hospital.

"Right, I'm tired, just shows you that being disowned takes up the majority of your day." Bella said glumly before standing up.

"Are you sure you want to go to school tomorrow, Sweetheart?" Esme asked, the worry written all over her face.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Besides, I want to see what it's like." Bella said before hugging Esme, wishing everyone goodnight and heading for the stairs.

I waited until Bella was out of earshot before I started speaking.

"Do you think she'll be okay tomorrow?" I asked.

"I think she'll be fine, as long as Reneé doesn't show up again. I don't think it's particularly upset her, Reneé just made her angry." Jazz said, leaning forward and resting his forearms on his legs.

"We all need to keep an eye out for Reneé, Alice can you keep searching the future?" Edward asked me.

"Of course." I said, smiling reassuringly at him.

"Thank you, I'm going upstairs, speak to you all later." Edward said, sighing before standing up and speeding off up the stairs.

…

 **Bella POV**

I woke up the next morning well rested. I realised that I haven't been having nightmares here and that I had only had two nightmares since the incident with Jacob. It wasn't that I didn't think about what happened with Jacob, I just have more important things in my life that I need to focus on. It will take time for me to get over what happened with Jacob but I realise that it could have been much worse, I was lucky really that I got away when I did. I think that with the support I am getting I will learn to forget about Jacob and everything that happened back in Forks.

I opened my eyes and looked up into the butterscotch eyes that belonged to my Edward.

"Morning, Love." Edward said.

"Hey, what time is it?" I said, looking around the room and being grateful that Esme put some curtains over the windows.

"It's ten to eight, we have to leave in about an hour. D o you want some breakfast?" He asked me, sitting up further.

"Okay, and yes please." I said, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"Okay, I'll see you downstairs." He said, standing up and walking out of the door, closing it behind him.

I got up out of the bed and walked over to the closet, taking out a pair of black tight fitting jeans and the jumper I bought at the airport as well as a pair of black ankle boots.

I applied a little of the highlighter and mascara that Alice had discreetly placed around the bathroom and grabbed my black bomber jacket before heading out of the bedroom door and down the stairs where everyone was waiting in the living room.

I walked into the kitchen where Esme handed me a plate of toast.

"Thank you." I said, putting my phone down on the counter before sitting down on the bar stool.

My phone vibrated on the counter and I turned it over to check the caller I.D.

 **JACOB**

'Jacob' I thought. I turned the phone back over and it stopped vibrating on the counter top. There was no doubt that at least one of the others would ask me who it was.

What was he calling me for? The wolves must know that the Cullen's have left town by now mustn't they? Would they try to find the Cullen's? Would they hunt them down?

I put my plate in the sink and rinsed it before placing it on the drainer. I took my phone from the counter and walked back into the living room. I sat on the sofa beside Edward and his arm found its way around my shoulders. Jasper looked at me curiously.

"Was that your mother?" He asked.

"Uh, no it wasn't." I said, looking down at my hands.

Jasper looked at me confused as did a few of the others congregated around the living room.

"It was Jacob." I mumbled. Edwards arm tightened around my shoulders and Carlisle's face turned thoughtful.

"Do you think they'll attempt to find us?" I asked him.

"We won't know until they do, they act as blind spots in Alice's visions so we can't see. We'll be unprepared." He said, resting his hands on his knees.

My emotions soon turned worried and, of course, Jasper noticed.

"Bella, don't worry, Jacob won't come anywhere near you and he'll be sorry if he tries." He said, the southern accent rolling into his voice.

I smiled at him, and let him feel my gratitude for his reassurance.

"Right, you should be leaving, school starts in half an hour." Esme said, coming in from the back deck.

Everyone stood up and said their goodbyes to Carlisle and Esme. I hugged them both before following the others out of the door. The others had gathered in a loose circle discussing how we were getting to school.

"I want to use my car, come on I haven't had chance to drive it!" Alice complained.

"Fine, Alice you and Jasper use your car and Emmett and I will go in Edwards car with Edward and Bella." Rose said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Yay!" Alice squealed, taking Jasper's hand and pulling him toward the shiny R8 that was still parked in the driveway.

"Are we going?" I asked and Edward took my hand and lead me towards his car, closely followed by Rose and Emmett.

Edward put the key into the ignition and followed Alice down the driveway and onto the main road.

"Maybe we should just get a 4X4 like I suggested so we only have to take one car to school." Emmett said boisterously.

"Emmett you already have a 4X4, besides its not efficient." I droned off.

"Yeah, but a new one that Rose hasn't upgraded to make it look like it belongs in a monster rally, what do you mean its not effieecient?" He said in a 'duh' kind of voice.

I twisted myself around in the passenger seat to look at him.

"Well some of us have lessons at different times and afternoons off so it would make it look more normal if there are two cars in the lot, otherwise people may begin to think. Cogs seem to start turning in people's heads when people vanish from school property to run home." I said, laughing before twisting myself back around.

Emmett just laughed and soon enough we were coming off of the main road into town, the next town over, and we were driving through the town.

You could see people our age, well my age, walking through the tiny streets heading towards the school at the bottom of the road.

"Wait, what do I say if people see the ring?" I asked Edward.

"Just tell them, it's none of their business anyway. Besides, it might stop people chasing after the both of us." He said, following Alice through the gates and through the flood of people that were stood gawking at Alice's car. I'm 100% sure that Jasper can feel my unhinged amusement.

We eventually made it through the people and Edward followed Alice to the other side of the small car park before pulling the car into the space next to Alice's.

I opened the door to the car and stepped out, walking over to the rest of my adopted siblings with Edward. By now everyone in the car park had stopped talking and was staring in our direction.

"God, you'd think they'd have something else to talk about." Emmett said, wrapping his arm around Rosalie's shoulders.

"It will die down eventually." Alice said.

"Yeah, I doubt it." I said, placing my hand in Edward's.

"What makes you say that?" Rose asked.

My mood soon turned solemn and Jasper noticed, naturally.

"Well, that's why I couldn't go into school last year, nobody would shut up about you lot." I mumbled.

Edward's hand tightened around mine at this. I know he will never forgive himself for leaving but I have forgiven him so he should too.

"Hey." I said to him.

He turned to look at me, his eyes distraught.

"That doesn't matter anymore, none of this would have happened if you hadn't have left would it? We wouldn't be here right now." I said, and he smiled at me slightly.

"Shall we go in? We need to get our timetables." Alice said, jumping excitedly.

I smiled at Alice before Edward took my hand once more and lead me in the direction of the school entrance.

We walked through the crowd, who were still looking with curious expressions on their faces, and into the school.

The school looked the same as any other school would. The walls housed yellow paint, peeling at the edges and where students had picked at it over the years. The floors were an overtired white tile. The walls were covered in posters telling people of graduation dates, prom dates and extra credit activities. Rose, Emmett, Edward, Jasper and I followed Alice through the halls until we came to a dreary wooden door.

Alice turned around and grinned excitedly before turning around and knocking on the door twice.

" _Come in!"_ The woman on the other side of the door shrieked and I flinched at the pitch of her voice.

Alice placed her hand on the door knob, twisted it anti-clockwise slightly and pushed the door open to reveal a dreary office and a red-haired woman sitting behind a desk.

"Ahh, I was wondering when you'd show up." She said as we approached the desk.

She rummaged around on her desk and bought up a manila file.

"Names." She said to us all, rather rudely.

She looked toward Alice.

Alice raised her eyebrows at the woman and shook her head.

"Fine." The woman said.

"Alice Cullen." She said and Alice put her hand out in front of her to collect her schedule.

"Edward Cullen." She said, rather abruptly, until she looked up and saw Edward. At that moment she completely forgot about the job she was supposed to be doing and she was completely mesmerised by Edward. It should irritate me but I know he doesn't care so it doesn't.

"Emmett Cullen." She said dismally, and he put his hand out starkly. The woman raised her head for a moment when handling Emmett his schedule and she was definitely startled by his smirk and his broad shoulders.

"Look, I think we are aware of our own names, we can hand them out ourselves." Jasper snapped, you could feel his annoyance.

"Jasper." I said, raising my eyebrows at him and then the annoyance vanished, he must not have realised that he was projecting his emotions.

The woman handed Jasper the rest of the schedules and he handed the rest of them to us. I looked up and the receptionist was looking at me curiously. The woman scrunched together her eyebrows, thinking, as she looked at me once again.

"Okay then, that's everything. Does anyone have any questions?" The woman asked, her eyes flicking toward Edward every few seconds.

Edwards face turned away from the woman and his free hand linked with mine. I looked up at him with a smile of reassurance and looked back at the principal's receptionist who was looking at me with a look that could kill. I smirked at her before walking out of the office and into the hallway, followed by the others.

"Her face." Alice said, laughing.

I laughed with the others until the bell ring rung throughout the halls signalling the first lesson had just begun.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

I had English Literature with Edward, Jasper and Alice for first period and Rosalie and Emmett had Chemistry. How fun.

We all said our goodbyes and headed toward our first classes. To be perfectly honest I am not surprised in the slightest that every class on mine and Edward's timetables are exactly the same except for an additional Trig class that Edward had decided to take with Alice.

Alice knocked curtly on the door to our classroom.

" _Come in!"_ A woman called from the other side of the door.

Alice placed her petite hand on the brass door handle and twisted it anti-clockwise before pulling it open.

A tall, lanky woman with blonde hair stood before us. She was standing in front of an interactive screen behind a red oak desk, teaching about the symbolism of women in the Shakespeare play, Romeo & Juliet. She looked up towards us.

"Ah, you must be the newbies!" She said excitedly, looking at each of our faces.

I nodded and grimaced. She smiled back at us cheerfully.

"I have cleared a desk at the back of the room." She said, pointing to a table at the back of the room.

Alice thanked the teacher, whose name was Miss Conran, and took Jasper's hand before prancing down the aisle in the direction of the desk. I followed, my hand still placed in Edward's.

I watched the girls' faces change from a look of boredom to a look of awe when Jasper walked past, and I can imagine the exact same looks are being wistfully shot at Edward.

I turned my head toward Edward and squeezed his hand reassuringly, knowing he would be hearing every single one of their thoughts. It used to bother me, but it doesn't anymore, I know that he loves me and that's all I need to know.

We all sat down on one of the four seats placed around the desk. With me sitting between Alice and Edward and Jasper sitting on the end next to Alice.

"Okay, so as we all know, Romeo and Juliet's families are caught in a feud, making them 'star crossed lovers'. Do you think that due to the treatment of Juliet's by her father in chapter two act three makes her want to rebel against him?" The teacher asked the class.

"Grace?" The teacher pointed towards a student.

Grace sat in her chair in the middle of the room fiddling with her freshly manicured nails, and tutting when the teacher selected her. She huffed before looking up.

"I don't know." She said blatantly.

"Grace we've been working on this for weeks."

When Grace ignored her the teacher looked up to the new 'kids' at the back of the room.

"Ms Swan? What do you think?" She added, looking at me curiously.

"I think it does want to make her rebel against him, in the scene after her mother tells her she will be getting married to Paris, her father threatens so disown her if she doesn't marry him." I said, mumbling after I mentioned being disowned.

Mrs Conran looked at me appraisingly.

"That is absolutely correct, have you graduated already we haven't covered all of that content yet?" She said curiously.

"Yeah, we all had enough credits to graduate." I said, my ring catching my eye and drawing it away from the teacher.

"Okay class, I'm bringing around a worksheet for you to complete, if it isn't complete it will be done for homework." She said, collecting a stack of A5 sheets from her desk.

Edward's hand took mine underneath the desk and I smiled lightly, feeling safe and loved like I always did when I was around Edward.

Jasper looked up at me and smiled, pushing a wave of joyful annoyance at me.

"What?" I asked, trying not to laugh at him in the already silent classroom.

"Now it's not only Edward's lovey feelings I have to deal with." He sighed in mock horror and I giggled.

The teacher finally got around to our table and I was admiring my ring again, of course.

"That's a lovely ring." She said to me as she passed.

I blushed, naturally.

"Um, thanks." I said as she walked back down the aisle.

At hearing the teachers comment, the students sitting closer to us turned around, and they noticed it was on my ring finger. They started mumbling between them, thinking I can't hear what they are saying.

 **Jasper POV**

' _Do you think she's pregnant?'_

' _Getting married at eighteen, what a whore!"_

' _Wait? Aren't they like all related?'_

' _God, what a slut!"_

I focused my attention on the last statement. Bella's emotions were pouring through me like a river. Embarrassment, anger, sorrow.

' _Edward this is too much for her, she can hear everything they are saying!'_ I thought quickly.

Edward nodded his head discreetly telling me that he had heard my thought.

"Guys, she's going to be okay, she's about to ask the teacher to step out for a second, I'm going to go after her." Alice said, her lips moving so fast no human could even see.

Just then Bella's hand raised.

"Yes." The teacher asked abruptly, annoyed at the interruption.

"Can I leave to go to the bathroom?" Bella asked.

"Yes, but be quick." Bella nodded and looked at Edward before standing up and leaving the classroom, closing the door behind her with an audible click.

Alice stood up from her seat and left the room after Bella, the teacher too engrossed in teaching the class to notice her absence.

 **Alice POV**

I stood up from my seat and followed Bella out of the room. I knew coming here would be difficult. With everything that she's going through recently, I'm surprised she hasn't cracked yet. I followed the sounds of Bella's heartbeat to the girl's bathroom. I opened the door to find Bella leant up against the counter, her head in her hands. I rushed over to her.

"Bella!" I cried, I placed my hands around her wrists and gently pried her hands from her face.

"I heard what they were saying." She mumbled.

"I know, Bella. I thought I was going to have to restrain Edward and Jasper wasn't much better. I'm sure Rose and Emmett know by now as well." I said, smiling in an attempt to be reassuring.

As if on cue, the bathroom door opened and Rose walked in. She grimaced slightly at the sight of Bella but a sad smile broke out on her face as she walked over to us.

Bella looked up at Rosalie and smiled, standing up straight before hugging Rose and then me.

"Did Edward tell you?" She asked Rosalie.

"No, we heard it from our room, we are just down the hall from you guys, I had to restrain Emmett in his seat he was so pissed." She said, placing her hands on her hips.

"So what now?" Bella asked, wiping away the remaining tears.

"Well, are you up for going back to lesson? We only have one more period before lunch but you're with Edward anyway, I think me and Em are in your next lesson." Rose said.

I nodded.

"Let's go then, I'm sure Edward has lost his mind by now." Rose said, walking towards the door into the corridor.

"Edward calm down, she's fine and we're coming down the hall right now." I said, laughing.

"See you later Rose!" I said as she walked down the corridor in the opposite direction.

…

 **Bella POV**

Our next lesson passed like a blur. Rose, Emmett, Edward and I sat through a gruelling hour and a half of a small bald man, named Mr Thompson, talking to us about the effects of reacting water with glyceridase. I was sitting chewing mindlessly on the end of my pen when the bell rung signalling that it was time for lunch. Everybody stood up and rushed out of the room, much to the teacher's demise, and headed in the direction of the cafeteria.

I stood up with the others, collected my folder and pen from the table, and took Edward's hand before walking out of the room and down the hall. Emmett and Rosalie were walking right behind us. I watched as heads turned in the hallway, staring in our direction. Eyes drifted from Emmett to Edward and then to Em again. I turned and looked at Edward, his expression uncomfortable and quite frankly, pissed off. I wished I could take the thoughts away. Edward halted in his tracks for a second and started walking again before anyone could notice. I furrowed my eyebrows and grimaced.

"What's wrong?" I asked as he pushed open the doors to the cafeteria.

"Nothing, everything's fine." He said, smiling down at me.

I wanted to push him on it but I knew that he was stubborn enough not to tell me what was wrong. I decided to ask Alice about it later.

We walked into the room, closely followed by Rose and Emmett, and walked towards a table in the far corner of the room where Alice and Jasper were sitting.

"Hey." I said, sitting down on a chair next to Alice who was tampering with the cell phone in her hand.

"Hey! Everything alright?" She asked in her usual chirpy tone.

"Yeah, I think so." I said, still confused about what happened in the hall, that couldn't have been me could it ? The odds are astronomical.

I focused my gaze on Edward, much like I did in the hallway, who was sitting opposite me talking to Jasper. I cleared my mind and focused on the aspect of talking what he was thinking away, shielding him from it. I crossed my arms and focused. After a few seconds Edward flinched and looked around confused before his eyes landed on me.

"You can't hear them can you?" I asked, taking my focus from him and taking his hand that was on the table.

Edward looked confused still and quite frankly, so was I. Alice was smiling in her seat next to me, smiling directly at me.

"No, how on earth did you do that?" He asked, less confused after learning what Alice was thinking.

"I don't know really, in the hall when you flinched I was thinking about how to shield you from all of the thoughts, and you couldn't hear them for a few seconds which is why you stopped isn't it?" I asked, resting my head on my hand.

"Yeah, it happened out there too, I haven't encountered anything like that before."

"So what? I can shield him? How? That's impossible." I asked, turning to Alice.

"Hey, don't look at me I have no idea, maybe we should talk to Carlisle about it." She said tearing her eyes away from the future.

"Bella, Charlie is going to call you later." Alice told me in a melancholy monotone.

"Okay." I said, putting my head down.

"Bella, you don't need to speak to him if you don't want to." Rose said from the seat next to me.

I looked up and smiled at her as she placed her cold hand on mine reassuringly.

"Try that thing again." Emmett said, intrigued.

I turned myself back around and faced Edward. I closed my eyes and focused on pushing all of the thoughts out of Edward's mind. After a few seconds I opened my eyes to see everyone on the table smiling.

"Did it work?" I asked.

"It seems so, even though I have no idea in the slightest how you are doing it." Jasper said, confused like the rest of us.

"Yeah me neither, like, has anyone else you've ever met been able to do this?" I asked, getting freaked out.

"No, but Carlisle might have, we'll talk to him about it later." Edward said.

"So, are we going to prom this year? We didn't go last year!" Alice pleaded.

Everyone on the table looked towards me with uncertainty.

"Is everyone else going?" I asked, taking my phone from the table.

"I'll go if we all go." Emmett said, Jasper nodding beside him agreeing.

"I'd go, only if Em goes…" Rosalie trailed off.

"Come on guys I really want to go! I missed the dance last year!" Alice said and I flinched.

"No, sorry Bella! I didn't mean that how it sounded." Alice pleaded with me.

"It's fine Alice, really, I'd just rather forget it." I said, looking up and squeezing Edward's hand.

"So, how about it?" Alice asked, grinning at the outcome of my decision.

"Fine, as long as everyone else is there." I mumbled. I looked up and saw Alice bouncing up and down in her chair.

"Yay!" Alice squealed, catching some attention from some of the closet tables situated around us.

"Has Carlisle changed the shipping addresses from Forks to here yet?" Rose asked, pushing around a piece of pasta with her fork.

"Yeah, he did it before we left." Alice said, observing that faces around the room.

"Why are we even here? We aren't in this afternoon so why didn't we go home earlier?" Emmett asked.

"Do we not have any lessons this afternoon?" I asked, reaching for my timetable.

"You haven't checked it yet?" Alice asked laughing.

"Well it would be a complete waste of time, I'm where Edward is for every period and he knows his timetable already."

"Oh, shall we go or not?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, let's to out that door, I'm sure that leads to the parking lot." Jasper said standing up from his chair, leaving the lunch tray where it was.

"Okay! Let's go! We have much to do prom is in three days!" Alice said triumphantly.

I pushed my chair backwards, and took hold of Edward's hand which was outstretched, waiting for me to take it.

We walked together as a group towards red doors at the back of the cafeteria, much like the one I saw the Cullen's walk through all that time ago. Jasper caught onto my amusement as he realised what I was thinking and chuckled lightly.

We made our way over to the cars parked at the other end of the lot, avoiding the stares as best as possible. I know it didn't bother the Cullen's but it made me nervous, walking through large crowds of people.

"Can I go with Alice?" Emmett asked eagerly, as he is the only one who hasn't driven Alice's car yet. I drove the car back from the dealership yesterday, but if Edward found out I'd never hear the end of it and forever is a long time…

"Yeah, I'll go with Edward." Jasper said nonchalantly.

"Okay, see you back at the house." Emmett said, walking around to the driver's side of Alice's car.

Alice got in the passenger side and they were reversing out of the parking lot before we had even gotten in Edward's car.

Rose got into the passenger side next to Edward and I got into the rear passenger seat next to Jasper.

Jasper laughed lightly.

"What?" I asked, a smile grazing my lips.

"I just think it's funny when you get nervous walking through a crowd of human people when you're living in a house with seven vampires."

I laughed.

"Okay, I see what you mean." I said, still laughing with Jasper.

"Are we going to talk to Carlisle? Is he at home?" I asked.

"We should talk to Carlisle, he might have spoken to someone who can do what you can before, and he will be home in about half an hour." Edward said, pulling up to the gates to the house.

The gates were already open, due to the early arrival of Alice and Emmett.

…

We walked through the front door to find Alice and Emmett sitting with Esme in the living room. We all went over to join them.

"Esme thinks we should practice before Carlisle gets back, it would be interesting to see how long you can hold it for." Alice said, running her hand through her black hair.

I remained in my seat next to Edward and I closed my eyes.

I focused, yet again, on Edward's thoughts and me pushing them aside and burying them.

I opened my eyes a few seconds later to find Edward smiling down at me.

"Did it work?" I asked, looking around the faces of my family.

"Yes, I can't hear a single thought." Edward said.

Dear God, if I can do this now how will I be once I'm changed?

"You'll be amazing once you've been changed, just as you always have been." Edward said, pressing his lips to my forehead.

I looked up to him, startled.

"You can hear me!" I said.

Edward smiled brightly.

"Of course I can hear you you're speaking right now." He said, chuckling.

I focused on pushing his thoughts away yet again.

' _No! You can HEAR me!"_ I thought, emphasising each word.

Edward looked up from the ground and to me.

"How in the…" He mumbled, mostly to himself.

I sat back down, myself and the Cullen's completely baffled about what just happened.

Just then the door opened and Carlisle walked in, closing the front door behind him.

"Hello every…" Carlisle trailed off, not even finishing his sentence.

"What's happened?" He asked, concerned.

"Edward can hear Bella." Emmett said, grinning.

"Of course he can, she's sitting right there." He said, raising his hand and gesturing to Bella.

"No, Carlisle he can _hear_ her." Esme said.

"You can hear her thoughts?" Carlisle asked, startled to this addition.

"Yes, and Bella can shield mine, somehow. We were hoping you knew something." Edward said, sitting up straight.

"No, I've never come across anything like this before. Do you know what caused it?"

"No, it just happened whilst we were at school, I ended up testing my theory at lunchtime." I said, uncrossing my arms and resting them on my thighs.

"Have you tried it with Alice and Jasper, it might work." Carlisle said, perching on the arm of Esme's chair.

"No, let's see." I said as I focused my attention on Jasper.

I opened my eyes a few seconds later to find that it doesn't work on Jasper, so I tried with Alice. That didn't work either.

"Why do you think it only works with Edward?" I asked, leaning against Edward's side.

"It could just be your bond with each other or it could be that Alice's and Jasper's gifts are physical and Edward's gift is mental." Carlisle said, contemplating different ideas.

"What do you think this means for when I'm changed?" I asked nervously, unsure of whether I wanted the answer to my question.

"I think, that you are going to be incredibly powerful and very gifted once you are changed if you are showing this whilst you and Edward and strengthening your bond." Carlisle replied, standing up.

"What do you think I should do about it?" I asked warily.

"Maybe we should just leave it for a few days, see if it can be intensified in doing that, and if it is, we should leave it alone until you've been changed, it could be dangerous." Carlisle suggested.

"Alright, we'll leave it then, see how it goes." I said, resting my head on Edward's shoulder.

"So, how was school?" He asked, changing the subject.

I groaned inwardly.

"People noticed the ring." Edward said.

"Will you be taking it off when you go to school then?" Carlisle asked.

"No, I don't want to. It feels right there and it's none of their business." I said, smiling up at Edward who was holding back a chuckle.

"What?" I asked, giggling.

"It took me long enough to get it on your finger and now you don't want to take it off…" he trailed off.

"…ever." I said, smiling still.

He kissed my forehead and focused his attention back on his family, as did I.

…

An hour later we were all gathered around the living room couches talking, like a normal family would.

I looked over to Jasper to find him smiling at me, probably at my amusement at how normal this conversation actually was, there was no talk of the Voltori, or…

I shiver involuntarily

…Victoria, who I knew as well as the others that she'd come for me one day.

Edward pulled me closer once I shivered, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking about. I felt safe and reassured, I looked to Jasper who had his attention on something Carlisle was saying, but I knew I couldn't trust my emotional state around Jasper.

I was pulled out of my daydream 15 minutes later by a phone ringing. Everyone looked towards me and I realised that it was my phone that was ringing. I pulled the phone out of my pocket.

 **CHARLIE**

"Think I should answer it?" I asked, looking around the faces of my family.

"I'm sorry Bella, but yes, it could prevent the wolves attempting to trace is if word gets back to the reservation that you're fine." Carlisle said, smiling sadly.

I pressed the accept button and held the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I said.

"Bella, are you okay?" Charlie asked cautiously.

"I'm fine dad, and I know why you're calling and it's not going to work." I said glumly.

"Bella, I am so sorry! Will you ever forgive me?" Charlie pleaded.

"I don't know, Charlie. All I know is that I'm happy here and I just need time."

"Okay, Bells. I just miss you a lot. Oh, Jacob was asking about you, he told you to say he was sorry. He also asked me where you were but I couldn't tell him because I don't actually know." Charlie said chuckling at the end. I stiffened at the mention of Jacob's name and Jasper was crouching in front of me in a heartbeat, soothing the tension that was building.

"Charlie, just talk to Reneé, I'm sure she'll have the answers to your questions."

"You've seen your mother?" Charlie asked, surprised.

"Yeah, she showed up here, we had no idea she was coming." I said, smiling at the last part, who am I kidding? With Alice on our side we will never be surprised about anything.

"Oh, right. So she knows where you are hiding?"

Now I was getting annoyed.

"I'm not _hiding_ anywhere." I said through gritted teeth.

"Okay, okay Bella." Charlie said, as if to a sick animal.

"Charlie, I have to go, I'll call you." I said, before hanging up before he could even say anything.

Edward's arm tightened around my waist and he kissed my hair soothingly.

"Are you okay, Sweetheart?" Carlisle asked me, resting one of his cold hands on mine.

"Yeah I'm okay, thanks Carlisle." I said, smiling up at him. Carlisle looked at Jasper who nodded discreetly, reassuring Carlisle that what I said was the truth.

I looked up to Edward.

"Can we go out into the forest?" I asked.

"Yeah, let's go out for a while. We'll be back soon okay?" He said and Esme nodded before we took off into the garden.

…

Edward and I were sitting on a tree branch one an oak tree hidden deep within the forest surrounding the house.

"So, when do you want the wedding?" He asked me.

I placed my head under his chin further.

"Before my birthday, I don't want to be another year older than you."

"You'd only be nineteen." He said chuckling.

"It's still two years older than you are." I said, closing my eyes.

"No it isn't, I'm 110." He laughed again.

"You know what I mean…" I trailed off sleepily.

"Yes I do, besides I don't mind you being my wife tomorrow, let alone in September." He said, placing a kiss on my hair.

Suddenly, there was a huge bang, followed by a snap and a laugh.

"We have some visitors, my love." Edward said, looking in the direction of what I assumed was his brothers. Our brothers.

A few seconds later Jasper and Emmett came flying through the trees below us, sparing, as they did per usual.

I found watching Emmett and Jasper play fighting oddly entertaining, although I worry, I know they would never hurt each other. Not intentionally anyway.

A few seconds later Jasper had Emmett on his back in the clearing with his teeth to his throat.

"I win!" Jasper said triumphantly, offering Emmett a hand which he took to stand up.

"Next time, I'll get you." Emmett said to Jasper before skulking off toward the tree that Edward and I were sitting in.

Jasper laughed out loud before following Emmett in the direction of the tree.

"So what we doing this weekend?" Emmett asked, sitting next to Jasper on a tree branch adjacent to ours.

"I have no idea, I mean it is only Wednesday. What is it vampires normally to in their spare time?" I asked, looking from Jasper to Emmett.

"Normally we'd hunt or something, me and Jazz usually play video games which we would normally rope Edward and Carlisle into if he's not working." Emmett said.

"Don't go hunting this weekend, please." I said, whining in a playful tone.

"Uh, why?" Emmett asked, grinning.

"Because we have like a month and a half to the wedding which Alice will want my help with." I said, leaning my head on Edward's shoulder.

Jasper and Emmett started laughing.

"Bella!" I heard a musical voice shout from the house.

"See what I mean." I said, snuggling into Edward's embrace further.

"Do you want white and gold table settings or silver and royal blue table settings?" Alice asked from beside me suddenly, if it weren't for Edward's iron hold around my waist I'm sure I would have fallen out of the tree.

Emmett and Jasper both laughed and I was sure to send a glare in their direction.

"Bella? Are you listening?" Alice said.

"Yes, you just startled me is all. As for the table settings I think they should be silver and gold." I said, smiling at Alice.

"I agree." Edward said from beside me, which made my smile bigger.

"But that's not an option." Alice stated flatly.

"Alice please, if you get me silver and gold table settings I will love you forever!" I said, hiding a laugh.

"You'll already love me forever!" Alice said, knowing it was true already.

"Yes, but this is what we want. Please Alice!" I said, knowing she couldn't resist.

"Okay! Fine you can have your gold and silver." She said before jumping out of the tree to resume her wedding arrangements.

"Alice!" I shouted after her.

She was back in the clearing in about half a second.

"Yeah?" She asked from the ground.

"Thank you." I said gratefully.

"You're welcome! It's going to be perfect!" She said excitedly.

"I know." I mumbled, putting my head back into Edward's shoulder.

"You tired?" Edward asked and I nodded slowly.

"Let's head back to the house then." He said, gathering me in his arms before jumping from the branch, closely followed by Emmett and Jasper.

h ks High l player their neetingyour feey to Forks, take her back to Jacksonv


	14. Chapter 14

_**THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED AND READ MY LAST CHAPTER! IT IS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE TWILIGHT FRANCHISE OR ANY OTHER FRANCHISES MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.**_

 _ **AHealingRenaissance: It was gibberish! Sorry! It appears that I made a grammar mistake and it has been rectified, thanks for letting me know!**_

 **We Are Family**

 **Chapter 14**

 **Bella POV**

I woke up the next morning in Edward's embrace. He smiled down at me carefully, not knowing how I was going to react to the nightmare I had last night.

 _I was walking through the reservation to the lake with Jacob. We reached the lake and he put his arm backwards and pulled my waist towards him. I could feel his warm body pressed against my cold one. I was fighting him, without succeeding. I was calling out, screaming for help from my brothers and Edward, and Carlisle._

I was roused out of my nightmare when a southern accent whispered my name and told me I was okay. My eyes flew open to reveal the concerned eyes of Edward, Jasper and the rest of my family.

"Edward, I'm okay, unless Jacob and the pack actually show up here I'll be okay. It was just a nightmare." I said, rolling over and hoping sleep would take me again.

"You sure you don't want to stay home?" He said, concerned.

"Yes I'm okay, Edward." I said, before kissing him and sitting up, ready for the day ahead.

…

Half an hour passed and I was sitting in the driver's seat of my car. Edward was in the passenger seat and Alice and Jasper were sitting in the back, waiting for me to start the engine of my new car. Rosalie and Emmett were sitting in Esme's Jaguar waiting for me to pull off the drive. Rosalie decided to drive Esme's car today because it hasn't been driven in a while and Rose thought it needed some tuning up.

I turned the key in the ignition and the car hummed to life. I smiled at the perfectly normal sound that the car made, unlike the constant roar and failure of my old truck.

I reversed the car on the drive and pulled out of the gates, followed by Rose and Emmett.

Although I hated to admit that Edward was right, as per usual, I actually loved the car. It drove like a dream.

…

The first lesson that I had this morning was calculus and I hated every minute of it.

The first lesson dragged on for what seemed like forever and when the bell rang, Edward, Jasper and I got up out of our seats and said goodbye to Jasper before walking down the hall to our next lesson, Biology.

…

The day seemed to pass quickly after first period, much to my delight, and soon it was lunchtime. I made my way down the hall from the biology classroom, holding the hand of my fiancée as we walked through the doors of the cafeteria.

I sat down at the table in the corner where Rosalie and Emmett were sitting with Jasper.

"Where's Alice?" I asked Jasper.

Jasper looked towards Edward who nodded. Then I knew something was wrong.

"Alice is on the phone to Sam and Jacob outside." Jasper said reluctantly.

I could feel the blood run from my face. My feelings of dread and worry must have run into Jasper because they were soon replaced with feelings of calm and peace.

"Why? What did she see?" I asked, worrying now.

Jasper smiled at me reassuringly.

"Bella, there is no need to be worried. Alice is seeing Victoria again, just flashes…" he started.

"She just wants to see if the wolves have seen anything, meaning as she can't seem to see their futures." Emmett said, reaching across and placing his cold hand on mine reassuringly.

The pace of my breathing increased rapidly and I was soon wrapped in another invisible blanket of calm.

"Thanks Jasper." I said, leaning my head on Edward's shoulder.

"Alice thinks she's coming here doesn't she?" I asked, worried at the answer I could receive.

"Alice is unsure, which is the thing worrying her at the moment. She thinks her visions are slipping away. She'd be stupid to come here and we all know that; we'd end up killing her." Rose said, speaking for the first time.

"Doesn't mean she won't come here though, regardless of what she thinks I think her vendetta is driven by hate too much to pass up the opportunity to kill me. Alice's visions aren't slipping away, Victoria is well aware of Alice's gift, just like she is well aware of Jasper's and Edward's gifts. Victoria knows how to manipulate Alice's visions so that she can't see her decision, Laurent told her before he was killed." I mumbled into Edward's shoulder.

I sat up when the cafeteria doors swung open to reveal a perfectly calm Alice. Though I knew better to know that something was happening and I was too human to see it. Edward tensed beside me and his arm was suddenly around my waist as if to pull me out the way if a fight were to begin. Edward was reacting to something that he has seen happening in Alice's thoughts.

Alice sat down seeming perfectly content.

"We need to go." She said to the group in her usual cheery voice.

"She's here?" Emmett asked astounded.

"No, I've seen her in the local area, she heard Charlie talking about it to Reneé on the phone. Don't worry Bella, I asked Sam and he is going to keep him on the reservation. We need to go, now guys."

We all stood up and headed for the doors that were along the back of the cafeteria. We all headed out to the parking lot and walked over to our cars. I put my hand into my jacket pocket and passed my key to Jasper.

"You want me to drive your car?" Jasper asked.

"I can't drive it; I'm slowly losing my mind." I said, trying to laugh at the end.

"Oh, so that's why your living in a house with us then." Emmett said, leaning against the driver's side door of Esme's car.

"Ha ha." I said, sticking my tongue out at Emmett childishly.

Emmett smiled at me, showing off two rows of perfect teeth in the process. Rose and Emmett got into the car and started the engine, waiting for us.

I got into the back of the car behind Jasper and Alice sat beside me, her cold hand placed on my arm reassuringly. Edward was in the front talking to Jasper too quickly for me to hear.

"Is Carlisle at the hospital?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'll call him and tell him to come home."

Alice took her phone out of her pocket and held the phone up to her ear. Carlisle answered the phone immediately and Alice spoke in a loud enough tone, which I assumed was for my benefit.

 **Alice POV**

I held the cell phone next to my ear and waited for Carlisle to answer the phone. He answered the call immediately, much to my delight.

" _Alice?"_ Carlisle asked.

"Carlisle, you need to come back to the house, I've seen something and it's not good!" I said hurriedly down the line, speaking loud enough for Bella to hear.

" _Is it Bella, is she injured?"_ Carlisle asked promptly.

"She's fine, she's with us now, we're all heading back to the house." I said.

 _"I'm leaving now, is Esme at the house?"_ Carlisle asked, sounding less worried than before.

"Yes, Emmett called and she's expecting us back soon. You'll get back before us, I asked her to open the gates." I told him.

 _"Okay, I'm just about to leave the hospital, see you at home, bye Sweetheart."_ Carlisle said.

"Bye, Carlisle." I said, taking the phone away from my ear and ending the call.

 **Carlisle POV**

I was walking towards reception when my phone rung in the pocket of my coat.

 **ALICE**

At first I was confused, I was never called whilst I was at work, purely because my family tended to solve their issues without the need of any help. This must be serious.

"Alice?" I asked my second daughter down the phone line.

" _Carlisle, you need to come back to the house, I've seen something and it's not good!"_ She said hurriedly down the phone.

"Is it Bella, is she injured?" I asked her promptly, worried that my youngest daughter has been hurt.

" _She's fine, she's with us now, we're all heading back to the house_." She said.

"I'm leaving now, is Esme at the house?" I asked, breathing a sigh of relief, knowing that Bella wasn't hurt.

" _Yes, Emmett called and she's expecting us back soon. You'll get back before us, I asked her to open the gates."_ She answered.

"Okay, I'm just about to leave the hospital, see you at home, bye Sweetheart." I said.

" _Bye, Carlisle."_ She replied.

I took the phone away from my ear and ended the phone call.

I continued walking towards reception where I found Dr. Robards.

"Dr Cullen! How are you?" He asked cheerfully.

I smiled at him before speaking.

"Dr Robards I'm afraid I have to leave rather urgently, we have a family emergency which I must see to." I said, taking off my doctor's coat and folding it over my arm.

"Oh dear! Of course Carlisle! I hope the issue can be resolved." He said, waving me off.

"Of course, thank you doctor." I said before taking my leave.

 **Esme POV**

I looked up from where I was sitting on the sofa in the lounge when Carlisle came in through the door that lead to the garage. He came straight over to me and kissed me chastely before taking off his coat and hanging it over the arm of the chair.

"What's going on?" Carlisle asked, sitting next to me on the sofa.

"I don't know, all I know is that this vision that Alice had is serious enough to worry her." I replied, worried about the concept of a member of my family being hurt.

My despair must have shown on my face because Carlisle took my hand from where it was sitting in my lap and held it reassuringly.

"Esme, there is no need to worry, no member of this family will be in danger if I have anything to say about it." He said, smiling reassuringly at me.

•••

Both Carlisle and I looked towards the front door when we heard two cars speeding down the road towards the house.

"There is no way that Bella is driving her car back." Carlisle said, laughing whilst closing his newspaper and putting it in the coffee table.

"No, it's going too fast." I agreed.

Carlisle and I got up and walked towards the front door to greet our children.

The cars sped through the gates without even stopping on the road and came to a halt in front of the house.

"Told you." Carlisle said, smiling as he watched his youngest daughter climb out of the back seat of her car.

I laughed lightly and the front door opened to reveal everyone.

"I don't know why you feel the need to drive like that, honestly, you live forever and you're driving like there's no tomorrow."

"You'll understand when you've been changed, Love." Edward said, pulling Bella close to him and kissing her forehead.

"Besides, just think of how long it would have taken us to get back if you were driving." Emmett joked, mussing Bella's hair affectionately.

"Alice, what's going on?" Carlisle asked, once everyone was in the house and the door was closed.

"I've been getting flickers again. Do you remember when left and I kept on getting the flickering visions of Bella?" She asked, and I nodded.

"That's when they're like, but they are of Victoria, not of Bella doing reckless things." She said, looking towards Bella and smiling apologetically at her.

"Will you stop it." Bella whispered and we looked over to see her talking to Edward.

"How can I? When it's all my fault?" Edward replied, taking his hand from Bella's grip.

"Edward Cullen. You listen to me. We are here now, living an amazing life, we are getting married for crying out loud! Will you stop blaming yourself, because everyone has forgiven what happened, except for you. Will you please let it go for me?" Bella exclaimed quietly.

Edward looked down at Bella and smiled slightly. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, kissing her forehead.

"I will try to let it go, for you Love." Edward stated, as Bella snuggled into his embrace further.

I turned my head to see Esme smiling at Bella affectionately.

"Well, at least we know that Bella has got Eddie _whipped_ , I suppose." Emmett joked from his seat next to Rosalie.

Edward growled quietly from where he was sitting, gaining a booming laugh from Emmett in the process.

"So, what are we going to do about this issue." Carlisle asked.

 **Bella POV**

I could not believe this. After all this time Victoria was still setting out for revenge, taking me away from Edward like when _James_ was destroyed . I shivered involuntarily and Edward pulled away slightly, thinking I was cold. I grabbed his sweater in an attempt to pull him back.

"I'm not cold, just thinking about something." I answered.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked curiously.

"Would you like me to show you?" I asked and his face lit up, his eyes shining brightly with excitement.

Edward and I were now sitting in the living room together on the sofa in the corner. Em and Jasper were sitting on the other side of the living room playing a video game that they had somehow roped Carlisle into. Esme, Alice and Rose were sitting in the kitchen planning a part of the wedding reception.

I moved away slightly so I was facing him and closed my eyes. Compressed everything else that I was thinking and cleared my mind before thinking about what I was originally thinking about when he asked.

 _The baseball field where we first met James and Victoria. Being practically manhandled by Emmett because I wouldn't sit still. Running with Alice and Jasper. Seeing the Cullen's run into the dance studio. My relief at seeing my family. Waking up in hospital where Edward was waiting patiently for me to wake. Edward when he told me that he'd never leave me._

I opened my eyes to look up and saw that Edward was grinning at me. His grin was contagious and soon I was smiling at him jovially. I looked around the room to see that every member of our family had paused what they were doing to watch. Emmett, Jazz and Carlisle had paused their game and they were now watching us, smiling from where they were sitting by the television. Alice and Esme were leaning against the doorframe that separated the living room and the kitchen, grinning from ear to ear. Rose had taken a seat on one of the armchairs scattered around the living room, smiling at the both of us.

"What?" I asked, turning my head away out of sheer embarrassment.

"Did you hear?" Esme asked, looking at Edward and grinning at the both of us.

"Yeah, it's amazing!" Edward said, still grinning giddily.

Emmett laughed before turning himself back around and pressing play on the gaming remote, with Jasper and Carlisle following suit. Esme came and hugged the both of us tightly before retreating into the kitchen behind Rosalie and Alice.

•••

It wasn't long before the kitchen door slid open and Alice came into the living room with a plate of food in her hand. Suddenly, Edward was away from my side and before I could even turn my head he was beside Alice with the plate of food in his hand. He was talking to Alice, who still looked shell shocked, quietly as Jasper wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. I furrowed my eyebrows and stood up.

"What happened?" I said, taking the food from Edward and placing it on the end table near the sofa.

"She's seen something, or rather, someone." Jasper said as he tucked Alice's head under his chin.

I grabbed onto Edward's hand and he pulled me to his side, tucking me I'd under his arm.

"Victoria?" I asked and Alice nodded her head violently before launching herself at me and hugging me tightly.

"Alice? You're worrying me, what else did you see." I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer to my question.

"I saw you dead, Bella." Alice muttered lifelessly.

At this statement the rest of the family were gathered around Alice and I, Alice still clinging to me as if I was going to vanish when she let go.

"Alice?" I said and she shook her head.

"Alice?" I asked again, more pleadingly.

Alice lifted her head and her eyes were shining with tears that would never shed.

"Alice, I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying right here regardless of Victoria or anyone else who might want to kill me." I said, my own tears threatening to fall.

"Where was she when you saw her?" Rosalie asked, her hands on her hips.

"She was in Forks, she was on our land, Carlisle can you call Sam?" Alice said, resting her head on my shoulder as I stroked her hair comfortingly.

"What are we going to do?" I asked my family, my own tears streaming down my face as I held my sister tightly.

"Sweetheart, she isn't going to touch you, not if we have anything to do with it." Carlisle said, with an aggressive side to his voice that reminded me of when the Cullen's were hunting James nearly two years ago.

I smiled at him before he turned on his foot and walked into the kitchen, taking the landline from the cradle on his way past.

"It will be okay, girls." Esme said, wrapping her arms around Alice and I and hugging us tightly. Esme pulled away from the embrace when Carlisle walked out of the kitchen.

"They have caught her around town but she keeps on slipping away from them. They caught scent of her last night when Jacob and Seth were on patrol."

"Wait, which one is Seth?" Jasper asked curiously.

"The light brown one, he's the youngest that's only like fifteen." I said, resting her head on my shoulder as I stroked her hair comfortingly.

"Oh…" Emmett droned off to himself.

"But, the question still remains, what are we going to do?" Rosalie asked, crossing her arms.

"Alice do you have any idea of what she plans to do next?" Carlisle asked and Alice shook her head slowly.

"Do you think it's safe to go back to school?" Esme asked Carlisle.

"At the moment, no I don't. But that could still change. What would we tell them so that we don't gain attention?" Carlisle asked, looking at us for any ideas.

"You could just tell them that one of our grandparents or family members has died, everyone can have a few mental health days after that can't they? Besides, it's completely understandable and it happens all the time." Rose stated helpfully.

"Okay, here's what we'll do, you can all go in tomorrow, I don't think Victoria is stupid enough to attack a school with five vampires in it, and then if Alice has a vision we'll pull you out for a while."

Everyone agreed with Carlisle and it wasn't long before the conversation shifted to skills needed to get rid of Victoria. I soon became weary and my eyes started to droop.

"Just go to sleep love, I'll take you up later okay?" Edward said, his arms tightening around me as he pulled me into his lap.

"Kay, love you." I said tiredly.

The last thing I heard before falling into slumber was Edward's murmur.

"I love you, too."

•••

I woke up the next morning surprisingly energetically. I got up, showered, got dressed and did my hair before slipping out of the bedroom and down the stairs to meet the rest of my family. Everyone was gathered around the sofas except for Alice who pranced out of the kitchen when I passed, a plate of toast in her hand.

"Thanks, Alice." I said before we joined the others.

"So we do whatever we have to do first and ask questions later?" Emmett asked, looking at Carlisle, a grin threatening to appear on his face.

"In a manner of speaking, if it is safe to do so and there are no humans around then yes, if she shows up at the school you need to lure her away somehow, then you need to call Esme and I and we'll fight her together." Carlisle said, authority in his tone.

"Morning, Sweetheart. How did you sleep?" Esme asked, kissing my hair on the way past.

"Morning, and well, thank you." I said, finishing the last piece of toast on the plate.

"Time to go." Emmett said, rather glumly as he got up and offered his hand to Rosalie. Even though it wasn't strictly necessary, I'm sure she appreciates the gesture.

Everyone else, including Carlisle stood up and headed over towards the garage door after Emmett. Everyone wished Carlisle and Esme goodbye before walking down the stairs into the garage.

It was soon decided that I would drive my car with Edward, Alice and Jasper and Rosalie would take her M3 with Emmett.

•••

I was interrupted from my daydream when the car stopped in the school car park.

"Ready to go?" Edward asked, already standing at my door and offering me his hand.

I didn't reply, I just nodded and smiled vaguely. Was I ready? Absolutely not. I was heading to school with full knowledge of an imminent attack from Victoria. To be quite honest I was terrified. I was snapped out of my hysterics by Jasper pulling me into a hug.

"Bella, there is no need to be frightened." Jasper said, trying to soothe my nerves.

His expression changed from serious to playful in a matter of seconds when I pulled away from him and raised an eyebrow judiciously.

"Okay, there is some need to be frightened, but if she is stupid enough to show up here, there are five of us here, and we all know that Emmett won't let her get away this time." Jasper said, trying to soothe my nerves and succeeding.

"Yep, that's what worries me." I said flatly, looking over to where Emmett was standing with Rose in his embrace. He looked up when I looked at him. He let Rosalie go and came over to me.

"Bella, we can handle this. We will get rid of her and make you safe again, I promise." Emmett vowed to me and I was soon wrapped in a hug that only Emmett could possibly give.

"Em?" I said, not pulling away.

"Hmm?" He asked.

"Love you." I said and he tensed for a millisecond before replying.

"Love you too, Bella."

•••

The day rolled past in a blur and neither Edward or Alice had left my side all day. Even though their exterior seemed somewhat calm, I knew that inside both Edward and Alice were on edge.

"Please, I know that you're worried about me, but please give me some space." I said, growing annoyed at myself that I was annoyed with them because they were only trying to protect me.

"Sorry, Bella. We're just worried is all." Edward stated, Alice nodding in agreement beside him.

"What lessons do you have this afternoon?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Well I have Trig, Jasper went home with Emmett a while ago, are you going to go home?" Edward said, trig was the only class on our timetable that was different as it was a class that I was not taking.

"Yeah I think so, Alice are you going too?" I said, turning towards the pixie that stood beside Edward:

"Yeah I am, then when I get home our dresses will be there? Remember?" Alice said, grinning at me.

I knew it was tomorrow and our dresses should be at home when I get there, Alice had already assured me that the dress would be there when I _obviously_ shared my concerns that we were too late to order dresses. However, much to my demise, Alice had ordered the dresses from a shop in New York and they should be here today, she must have paid a fortune for delivery.

"Okay, Love I'll see you at home, I'll be back with Ali and Rosalie in about an hour." Edward told me before kissing me and skulking of to the extra credit class that he didn't even need.

"I'll see you later? Okay?" Alice said, kissing my cheek before bouncing off towards the door which Edward just walked through.

I reached my car and climbed inside, closing the door behind me and inserting the key into the ignition. The car roared to life and I was soon driving steadily along the main road to the house.

I travelled down the road at a steady pace, tapping my fingertips against the steering wheel as I was driving along, listening to music and thinking about doing some wedding planning with Alice this weekend. I reached the already open gates and parked my car behind Emmett's large jeep that was parked in the driveway. I shut off the ignition and got out of the car, locking it as I walked through the front door. I walked around the ground level looking for Jasper and Emmett, didn't Alice and Edward say they were at home? I eventually found them when I walked out into the back deck. They were bawling around in the back garden, sparring with each other. I laughed, successfully gaining their attention.

"Care to share what's so funny, little sister?" Emmett asked, walking over to me and ruffling my hair.

"Nothing, it's just you two are ridiculously childish." I laughed, and soon they were laughing along with me.

"Where are Esme and Carlisle?" I wondered as we walked back into the house.

"Esme is in her garden and Carlisle had to go to the hospital I think…" Emmett told me, slouching down on the sofa besides me and reaching for the television remote.

"So, what's been on your mind lately, Bells?" Jasper wondered, putting his arm around my shoulders.

"Not a lot really…" I lied through my teeth, hoping that Jasper would not see through the façade.

The truth is, I have been thinking a lot about many things. The first thing that was constantly on my mind was Victoria. She was a constant threat to me and my family and I knew that she was coming for me. The second thing that was always thinking about was Jacob. There were constant scenarios running around my head about Jacob and the pack showing up here and hurting my family. Even though we were now living in England, there was always the possibility that they could show up here and ruin everything. The thing that made things worse was the fact that I knew all too well that my family would all fight to make sure that I was safe, and that scared me to death. The third thing that I thought about was my parents. I know that there is the possibility that I will never speak to them again, especially after what Reneé said and my argument with Charlie. After having a family like the Cullen's I never wanted to go back to taking responsibility for my mom and dad, here with the Cullen's I was free to be myself without the fear of repercussion.

"Bella, you can tell us you know." Jasper reassured me and I knew that he could read my emotions loud and clear.

"Jasper, there are far too many things going around in my head right now for me too even comprehend them, if I try and speak about it I know I'll mess up somewhere." I said, trying to smile at him reassuringly.

"How about you start at the beginning, you might feel better when you've spoken about it." Emmett encouraged me, pausing whatever he was watching on the television and looking towards me.

"Well… the first thing is Jacob, the fact that Alice can't see them and it would kill me if any of you were hurt by them and then I don't know what I would do and what if they find us and…" I trailed off, breathing heavily.

Jasper smiled at me as the wave of calm that he sent in my direction hit me. I breathed slowly until my breathing evened out.

"There you are, you just need to talk slowly." Jasper said, laughing when I started giggling.

"What else is on your mind, Bells?" Emmett wondered.

"The next one is kind of obvious." I stated, looking at Jasper in the eye as he realised what I was worrying about.

"Victoria?" He asked, and I nodded.

"Bella, even though she's after you she won't be able to hurt you Darlin'. Besides, you'll be changed soon and then Em and I will be able to train you in combat." Jasper joked, earning a laugh from me.

"Do you think that Edward would let me fight?" I questioned.

"No!" I heard a shout from the garage and I turned just in time to see Edward walk through the garage door, followed closely by Alice and Rosalie.

"Why not?" I whined, doing my best pout.

"Because you're a danger magnet." He stated as if it was a matter of fact.

"Yeah, now I am! But what if I'm not when I'm changed?" I asked, still pouting at him. He wouldn't look at me because he knew that if he did, he would give me whatever I wanted.

"Nope." He stated, walking into the kitchen and coming back with a bottle of water, which he handed to me.

"No worries, Jasper and Emmett will do it, won't you guys?" I asked, looking between Emmett and Jasper who smirked at Edward before answering.

"Of course I will, have to see if I'm stronger than a newborn." Emmett said, laughing when Edward growled.

"Of course I would, you know I can't say no to you." Jasper joked.

I rested my head on his shoulder and I felt my eyelids droop. The last thing that I felt was a blanket draped over me and a kiss on my forehead.

 **Carlisle POV**

I walked into the house after I returned from the hospital, I was greeted by silence except for the slow heartbeat of Bella.

Edward and Emmett were playing a video game with Alice and Rosalie, of course Alice was winning and Emmett was sulking. Jasper was sitting on the couch with Bella's head resting on his shoulder. I smiled at the sight of my youngest son and daughter sitting together. Esme walked into the kitchen and greeted me before leading me over to the couch.

"Anything happen today?" I asked the group.

"I haven't seen anything new with Victoria, only what I've seen already. I've seen her here, in Forks, I even saw her in South America at one point, until she finalised her decision, we won't know her plan."

The others discussed their day before Jasper spoke quietly, careful not to wake Bella who was stirring on his shoulder.

"Bella was talking earlier, she was telling us what she's been worrying about, the first thing was, of course, Victoria and the second was Jacob. Me and Em were listening to her and reassuring her the best that we could. She's terrified that the pack will show up here and take us away from her, it's the same with Victoria, she's worrying that Victoria will hurt any one of us. We tried to console her the best that we could, and she was okay as soon as the others got home, we were joking about Emmett and I teaching her to fight when she's changed." Jasper told me, smiling at the memory of his sister pouting at Edward, everyone knows that Edward can't say no to anything that Bella asks for. Edward looked up from the racing game he was playing and smiled at me, having heard my thoughts.

"Has she been asleep for long?" I wondered.

"No, she fell asleep on Jasper's shoulder about an hour ago, she'll need to eat dinner soon but I need to go grocery shopping soon, I was waiting for her to wake up to see if she wanted to come with me, when will she wake up Alice?" Esme asked.

Alice paused the game, much to Emmett's dismay, before answering Esme.

"Four minutes and twenty-seven seconds, she'll want to come with you, I already sent directions to the supermarket in town to your cell." Alice told Esme before resuming the game.

Esme squeezed my hand tightly before standing up and walking into the cupboard under the stairs, walking out thirty seconds later wearing a jacket and holding her purse, as well as a jacket for Bella. Although we didn't need warm clothes, it was dull in England during June, even though it was summer.

Bella stirred, lifting her head from Jasper's shoulder and smiling wryly at the family and excusing herself for a human minute. She came down the stairs a few seconds later.

"So, what's everyone doing tonight whilst the human sleeps?" Bella wondered.

"Well, I could really do with going hunting. Em you coming?" Edward asked.

"I'll come too!" Alice said, standing up and sitting on the floor at Jasper's feet.

"Bella, I'm going to the grocery store, do you want to come with me?" Esme wondered and Bella nodded, standing up.

"I'll come too, it's been a while since I've come with you." I said, standing up and taking a jacket from the hook by the door.

"Okay; let's go." Esme said, taking my hand and walking towards the garage door. Bella kissed Edward goodbye before following us.

"Are we taking my car?" I asked.

"Yes, it's not dark yet and the sun is still above the clouds, it's better to be safe than sorry!" We heard Alice shout from inside the house.

I unlocked my car and slid into the driver's seat, with Esme sitting in the passenger seat and Bella in the back behind Esme. I started the engine and drove towards the main town.

"I have a question." I said, pulling over when I realised I didn't know where I was going.

"Where are we going?" I asked Esme.

"Oh, Alice sent directions to Esme's phone." Bella exclaimed, speaking for the first time since we left the house.

"That's right she did!" Esme said, taking her cell phone from her purse that was on the floor by her feet.

"We're on Turnpike Road so we have to continue for 500 metres and then turn left at the roundabout." Esme said, putting the cell phone back in her purse.

Eventually, we reached the store and got a trolley. It was necessary that we kept up the façade by being seen out and about by the other residents. That way, the other residents of the town would become more comfortable, therefore they would not become suspicious of us.

We were half way around the store when Bella froze in her tracks, taking a step backwards.

"What is it, honey?" Esme asked, putting her arm around Bella's shoulders.

"Those girls over there are the ones that were spreading the rumours that Edward and I are getting married because I'm pregnant." Bella stuttered, she moved closer to Esme and I when the girls began to make their way towards us.

"Oh, the new girl. You must be her _adopted parents_. I am Grace, and this is Sofia." The girl said and I just nodded.

The girl, obviously not satisfied continued to speak.

"So, Bella, how's the bun in the oven? I took the liberty of telling everyone. I do hope that you don't mind?" The girl said in a sickly sweet voice. I could feel my eyes darken, but I couldn't help look away from the _child_ in front of me. What parents would raise their children with that level of disrespect, if one of my children had that level of disrespect for another I would be ashamed.

"If you don't mind, I would rather you kept your mouth closed. You have no idea what is going on and you have no right to spread atrocious rumours that are complete lies, now if you wouldn't mind I would like to finish shopping with my _parents_ and then go home to see my _fiancé_." Bella stated coldly. Apparently she had achieved the desired effect because the smile was evident on her face when the girls huffed and walked away.

"They were saying that about you?" I questioned when the girls were far enough away.

"Yes, but it doesn't really bother me. Everyone who really matters knows the truth so everyone else doesn't really matter." Bella said, grinning.

Esme took Bella into her arms and I followed suit, drawing my youngest daughter into my arms.

"Come on, let's finish here and then we can get home, it's almost eight." Esme said, putting her arm around Bella's shoulder as I continued to push the trolley throughout the store.

When Esme was satisfied that we had enough food to look like we were feeding eight people, we paid and carried the brown bags out to the car, and soon enough we were speeding down the country lanes home.

"Mom, Dad?" Bella asked from the back seat.

It still filled me with happiness and pride whenever Bella called me dad, and it was the same for Esme when Bella called her mom. It was something that seemed to be happening more regularly and Esme and I could not be happier.

"Yes, sweetie?" Esme chimed.

"Can you tell Edward and the others when they get home from hunting? I'll tell the others when we get home but I'd rather Edward knew before we got to school tomorrow." Bella wondered.

"Of course we can, sweetheart. We can tell him when he gets home with Alice and Emmett. I don't think that they are going far tonight, but Emmett was hoping to go far enough to find some bears before they go into hibernation." I told her and she nodded, thanking us quietly.

"You don't need to thank us, Bella, this is what parents are for after all." Esme said, turning in her seat and giving Bella's hand a comforting squeeze.

We arrived back at the house fifteen minutes later, I drove my car straight into the underground garage and parked it in the allocated space. I stopped the car and we all got out.

"Your mom and I have this, Bella. Why don't you go and tell Rosalie and Jasper what you wanted to tell them?" I offered.

Bella nodded and took off up the stairs and into the house.

 **Bella POV**

I left mom and dad in the garage and made my way into the house to find Rosalie and Jasper. I walked into the living room and found them sitting expectantly after they heard Carlisle in the garage. I walked over to them and sighed before sitting on the couch opposite them.

"Okay guys, don't lash out at anyone or anything when I tell you this, but, you know the girls that are spreading the rumours about us, including the one that I'm engaged to Edward because I'm pregnant?" They both nodded their heads grimly.

"Well, when we were at the store earlier, we saw them, they walked over to us and asked me how my _'bun in the oven'_ was doing and how she's taken the liberty of telling the whole school that I'm pregnant, so she's basically told the whole school that I am a slut who is having to get married because she got knocked up at eighteen. I told Edward this would happen." I told them.

"What are their names?" Rosalie asked calmly.

"Rose, what are you planning." I said slowly.

"Nothing!" Rosalie said too quickly, but Jasper's smirk gave her away.

"Rosalie…" I trailed off, raising my eyebrows.

"okay, I was planning something, thanks Jasper." Rosalie said through gritted teeth, smacking Jasper's arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" Jasper moaned.

"Oh be quiet, you. That didn't even hurt you." Rosalie whispered and then looked around for any signs of Esme or Carlisle.

"So, what's your plan?" Jasper wondered, rubbing his arm.

"Well, she walks around thinking she's a princess in those tacky, last season designer clothes so I was thinking that, maybe we could go to her house and replace her clothes with sweats and tank tops, that will be punishment enough for her. Besides, she still has a whole other school day to piss me off before I go and buy her new wardrobe." Rosalie explained her whole plan and by the time she had finished, Jasper and I were grinning triumphantly.

"Sounds good, make sure to clue the others in when they get going to bed, night guys." I hugged Jasper and Rosalie and called out a goodnight to Carlisle and Esme before getting into my bed and falling into a dreamless sleep for the first time in a fortnight.

 **Edward POV**

As we approached the house early the next morning, I was very pleased to hear that Bella has slept well, but she needed to speak with us all. I was immediately concerned when the family in the house were blocking their thoughts. I was comforted slightly when I felt a wave of calm coming from Jasper. We reached the house and Emmett opened the door, holding it for everyone else and then closing it behind us. I walked into the kitchen to find Bella sitting on a bar stool eating breakfast, her back to me talking to Carlisle. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her waist, startling her slightly.

 **Bella POV**

I woke up the next morning from a go night's sleep. I got up, showered and dresses quickly before heading down to breakfast, I knew that Edward and the others would be back soon. I walked in the kitchen to find Esme hovering over the stove and Carlisle rummaging in the fridge for something.

"Good morning, sweetheart." Carlisle said as he closed the fridge and walked around the kitchen island to give to a hug.

"Morning, honey." Esme said as she placed a plate with pancakes on it. She went over to the cupboard and retrieved the syrup before kissing my forehead.

"Morning guys." I said as Rosalie and Jasper walked into the kitchen.

"So, when will the others be back?" I wondered.

"They should be back in the next half an hour, we will definitely have time to talk to them before you leave for school. Are you sure you want to go in today?" Esme asked.

"No, I'll be okay and if I'm not I can just come home right?" I asked.

"Of course, sweetie." Carlisle said as he sat on a bar stool beside me.

I was sitting eating my breakfast ad talking to Carlisle quietly when I cold pair of arms wrapped around my waist, startling me.

"Hi, you're home!" I cheered, swivelling the chair around and hugging him closely.

"I told you that we would be." He replied. I was about to lean up and kiss him when my phone rang, interrupting us.

 **SETH**

"Why is Seth calling me?" I muttered to myself as I leaned forward to answer the phone.

"Hello?" I said as I answered the phone, looking around at the uncertain faces of my family.

"Hi, is this Bella Swan?" The voice asked me.

"Yes, Seth I don't mean to be rude but why are you calling me?" I asked.

"I am so sorry to bother you, Bella, but I was wondering if you had heard from Jacob?" he asked sheepishly.

"No, why would I have heard from Jacob, do you not know what happened?" I questioned.

"Bella, I'm going to be honest with you. The rest of the pack, or what's left of it, have no idea that I'm calling you. I am not asking where you are or whether you have been changed, I am just worried about Jacob." Seth said, more forcefully than I had ever heard him speak before.

"He called a few days ago but I didn't answer the phone, hold on, what do you mean 'what's left of it'? I questioned back at him.

"Bella it really isn't my place to tell you this and Sam would kill me…" He trailed off.

"Seth is something wrong in La Push?" I asked him.

"Oh to hell with it I'll tell you. Basically, since the Cullen's left, some members of the pack haven't been able to shift so we are drastically decreasing in size. Billy Black said something about the 'magic' not being here anymore so the pack isn't shifting. Only Sam, Paul and I are now able to shift because we are direct descendants. Meaning as Jacob is to, there's no reason that he can't transform anymore." Seth informed us, I put the phone on loud speaker when he finished talking, even though I knew it probably wasn't necessary.

I grinned triumphantly at Edward and I mouthed 'I told you so!'.

"Seth, I'm sorry is there anything we can do?" I asked, concerned for the people that protected me all of those months ago.

"Bella, there is honesty nothing to worry about, its fine because the members of the pack who can't shift anymore are happy. They are happy that they will be able to age properly alongside their imprints." Seth reassured me.

"If there's anything I can do just let me know, I'll let you know if he tries to call again, bye Seth."

"Bye Bella." Seth hung up and everyone in the room stared at the phone silently.

"Guys you are going to be late for school, let's go guys!" Esme said, breaking the silence.

"Bells you wanted to say something?" Emmett asked, unfolding his arms.

"Yes I did, but it can wait until we are on our way to school, are we taking more than one car?" I asked, looking at Alice for my answer.

"Yes, if anything changes we can just run home, it won't hurt to do it once." Alice said as she put her purse on her shoulder.

"Okay, let's go then." Emmett said, slinging an arm around my shoulder and colleting mine and his bag on the way into the garage.

Emmett was driving his Jeep, with Rosalie riding shotgun. So, that left Edward, Alice, Jasper and I to squeeze into the back seat. In the end, I ended up on Edward's lap and Alice ended up on Jasper's lap.

"So Bells, what's going on? It's evident that Rosalie and Jasper already know, and by the look on her face so does Alice." Emmett said, looking at me in the rear-view mirror.

"Well, when you guys were hunting yesterday, when Esme, Carlisle and I were at the store, those girls who are spreading those pregnancy rumours came over to introduce herself to mom and dad. Firstly, they decided to try to throw in an adoption jibe and then she went on to ask how the baby was. She then told us that she had taken it upon herself to tell the whole school what was supposedly happening. Just wanted to tell you before we get to school." I said, burying my head in Edward's neck.

Emmett sped into the school parking lot fifteen minutes later. Emmett got out of the car and glowered at the red mini that the girls were sitting in. Edward and Jasper followed suit, throwing dirty looks at the small vehicle.

We were talking amongst ourselves when the boys started growling quietly.

"What are they talking about?" I wondered.

"They are going to try to talk to you today, corner you when you are alone." Rosalie told me.

"it doesn't matter anyway; I'm not going to be alone all day. Its Thursday so I have classes with at least one of you all day, and it's the same tomorrow." I said, resting my head on Edwards chest.

"We will do all that we can to keep you safe, Bella." Edward reassured me, kissing my forehead.

"I know." I mumbled into his chest.

The day was going fine until third period. First period I had gym with Jazz, mostly we just sat in the bleachers and talked because the gym teacher didn't really care. The next period I had was Spanish, which I had with Alice and Edward. Turned out I was quite good, due to the fact that Alice and Edward were excellent teachers. However, I was meeting Emmett and Jasper at third period English Literature when I was shoved sideways into the lockers.

"Well isn't it the school slut and momma to be, where's your fiancé and your brothers now Hun?" the sickly sweet voice went straight through me and I looked up to see the girls that I had been most trying to avoid.

 _ **THANKS GUYS, I HAVE MADE SOME CHANGES TO THE STORY AS WELL AS SOME EXTRA ADDITIONS, I HOPE YOU ENJOYED READING IT WAS MUCH AS I DID WRITING IT!**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Hey guys! Thanks so much for the reviews on my last chapter! I made a slight change to the story. Here's the next chapter for y'all!**_

 **We Are Family**

 **Chapter 15**

" _Well isn't it the school slut and momma to be, where's your fiancé and your brothers now Hun?" the sickly sweet voice went straight through me and I looked up to see the girls that I had been most trying to avoid._

 **Bella POV**

"So, are you going to answer the question? Are you pregnant?" The tallest of the girls, Grace, questioned me.

I looked up at them to see Emmett, Jasper and Edward standing behind them quietly, not making a sound.

"You know, even though you are pretty confident and uptight, you still believe that you have the audacity to spread the worst rumours. Because who will be the idiot when I'm not walking around with a stroller? What else was it that you asked? Where's my fiancé and my brothers, well…"

"We're right here!" The girls spun around when they heard Emmett's voice behind them. Jasper, Emmett and Edward had actually come out of nowhere, but that was to be expected. The girls spun back around to face me.

"You were about to say something?" I pushed.

The girl opened her mouth and closed it again before taking off in the direction she came from.

"You okay, Bells?" Jasper asked.

Edward darted over to me and encased me in his arms.

"I'm okay, maybe she will shut up now." I hoped.

"You sure?" Edward made sure.

"Yes, I'm okay honestly, now go to your next class I'll see you at lunch?" Edward nodded and kisses my forehead before walking towards the French class he was taking with Alice.

"Let's go." Emmett said and we all walked off in the direction of our next class, English Literature. We walked into the steadily filling classroom and took a seat on the back table. I put my bag down on the floor once I had retrieved my novel and a pen. This term we were studying the novel Charles Dickens ' _a Tale of two Cities'._ I was focused on reading so I was startled when Jasper growled under his breath. I looked up from my book and noticed that a tall boy was making his way towards our table. He sat on the desk, completely oblivious to the looks that he was getting from Jasper and Emmett. Obviously sensing the boy's emotions, I saw Jaspers eyes darken, so I put my hand on his cold arm to reassure him before turning towards the boy.

"Can I help you?" I asked shortly.

"Well, I was wondering that now those rumours have been cleared up. Maybe you wanted to come out with me at some point?" he asked confidently.

I just about managed to hold back a snicker. _Is he serious?_

"So either you've been living under a rock or you are just completely oblivious. Did you miss the part of the rumour about me being _engaged_? Sorry to disappoint but that part of the rumour was true." I told him, _where was this confidence coming from?_

As the boy, _John,_ was about to speak the teacher walked in and told us to turn to page 104 of our novels, after that the time in class passed slowly until the bell finally rang for lunch.

"Bella?" Jasper tapped my shoulder, effectively snapping me out of my reverie.

"What?" I asked, I mustn't have had as much sleep as I first thought.

Jasper laughed.

"All of that sassiness and confidence wearing you out, sis?" he joked as we walked out of the door into the busy corridor. As we made our way to the cafeteria, I saw the two girls in the hallway, sending glares in my direction. Jasper and Emmett, also seeing the girls, slowed their pace so they were walking on either side of me. We reached the cafeteria and found Rosalie, Edward and Alice sitting at a table in the far corner with half-full lunch trays in front of them.

"Hey guys." Rosalie greeted, reaching into her bag for her nail polish.

"How was your fashion class?" I wondered.

She groaned and I laughed at her natural reaction.

"It's awful, I thought it would be one class that I would actually enjoy a little. But, much to my demise, the teacher is some 22-year-old student who thinks she's the new Diane von Furstenberg." Rosalie moaned, earning a laugh from the rest of the group.

"What do you have after lunch?" I asked, taking a seat between her and Edward.

"I'm back in fashion, but you have history so do you want to bunk? We can initiate phase one of our plan? Besides, Jasper can tell you what really happened during the Civil War so there's no need to go to the class." she asked, smirking.

"Yeah okay, go now?" I wondered and she nodded. We both stood up as I bent down to kiss Edward goodbye.

"Wait, who is driving?" I asked as I picked up my bag.

"You are!" she replied, smirking.

"You want me to drive that?" I gasped, pointing in the direction of Emmett's jeep that was in the lot.

"No!" Alice laughed, "I went home last period so my car is in the lot. You can take that but please don't hurt her!" she begged. I thanked Alice and hugged her before Rosalie walked out of the cafeteria doors and into the lot. We walked across the lot and Rosalie got Alice's car keys from her purse, unlocking it before handing them to me.

"Cannot believe that I'm doing this." I said, starting the engine of the canary yellow Porsche.

"Okay, you need to remember that this is more powerful than your car is so be careful with you reverse backwards." Rosalie explained to me.

I reversed backwards surprisingly well before driving out of the parking lot at a steady pace. As soon as we hut the motorway, I put my foot down on the accelerator.

"So what do you think?" Rosalie asked, smiling at me.

"Maybe I can understand why you guys love to drive fast. And maybe I'll let Edward buy me one for my birthday." I added in quickly. Rosalie tried to keep a straight face but ended up laughing anyway.

We continued down the motorway and soon we were at a large mall that was about half an hour away from the house.

"Where to first?" I wondered.

"Anywhere that sells horrible clothing, I'm not very accustomed to shopping in the United Kingdom so we can take a look around." Rosalie told me as I locked the car and put the keys in my jacket pocket.

…

We had been walking around the mall for about twenty minutes when Rosalie found a store that sold horrible enough clothing to get payback on Grace. Rosalie and I had each grabbed a basket and we were both filling them with sweatpants, sweatshirts and every bad looking tee we could find.

"We done?" I asked, Rosalie nodded, satisfied with the amount of purchases we had made.

"Yes, now we just have to hope it fits in Alice's car?" Rosalie mused as she walked away from the till.

"Rosalie and I walked around the mall for a further hour, browsing stores and making a few new purchases for ourselves. When we eventually made our way back to the car, it has gained some attention and there were people standing around it taking photographs. Rosalie and I managed to push through the crowd and put the bags in the trunk before we were bombarded with questions about the car. I started the car and reversed backwards and out of the lot, ensuring not to hit anybody or anything, Alice would kill me.

"What's the deal with the car? Yes, its flashy but it's a Porsche 911 aren't there thousands like it?" I wondered.

"Well, yes. But this is Alice we are talking about. This is actually a rare car, they only made 25 of them in this colour before they changed it to a darker yellow." She told me.

"Ohh, okay." I said as I leant forward to put the radio on. The radio stations in the United Kingdom were strange so we eventually settled on a radio station called _Capital_ as they were playing the latest hits.

Due to rush hour traffic, it took us longer than expected to get home, and when we did get back, the others had not returned home from school yet.

"Shouldn't they be back its early five?" I wondered aloud.

"Yes they should me, Carlisle ad Esme are here let's see if they know anything. Leave the bags I'll get the boys to get them later." She said, smirking in my direction.

Carlisle and Esme were standing in the living room to greet us when we go back, I went over and hugged them both before Esme lead me over to the couch. Rosalie and Carlisle followed.

"Did something happen? The principal called and said something about that girl?" Esme asked hurriedly.

"She cornered me on the way to class demanding that I answer her question. However, she didn't get an answer because Emmett, Jazz and Edward showed up giving her the fright of her life. Talking of them, where are they?" I mused.

Esme looked at Carlisle who nodded before answering me.

"They are still at school; Alice is waiting for them because the boys got detention." Esme told me.

"They got detention? Why?" Rosalie asked.

"The same girls tried to pressure Alice into answering their question, I'm assuming because you weren't there you answer it yourself. Anyway, the boys showed up and of course they ended up shouting to defend you and Alice. A student called for the principal and he caught them all arguing so he gave them detention, they should be home soon though, not to worry." Esme reassured me.

"Do I want to know what they were saying?" I asked cautiously.

"We don't know what the girls said to provoke the boys, it may have just been that they were pressuring Alice, but I'm sure they would tell you if you asked." She told me, stroking my hair as she pulled my head to her shoulder.

It wasn't three minutes later that Emmett's jeep sped through the gates, startling me. I got up and went to Edward straight away when he came through the door.

"What happened?" I asked him, reaching up to hook my arms around his neck.

"Nothing for you to worry about love, honestly, she won't come near you again." He assured me.

"Okay." I said, satisfied with his answer. I wasn't 100% sure that I wanted to know, I was snapped from my daydream by Alice's squeal in the kitchen.

"The dresses are here?" I asked.

"The dresses are here." He confirmed.

"Looks like I'm not seeing you until we leave tonight?" I questioned him.

"Looking at what Alice has planned for you are Rose, I'm going to say no." he laughed and we walked into the kitchen. Alice was trying to keep Emmett away from the dresses.

"Right! Boys go hunting or something! But be back for four thirty we are leaving at five thirty so be there by six." Alice snapped and the boys, not including Carlisle skulked out of the back door to hunt.

…

By five thirty, the boys had returned and Alice had whisked them off to different rooms to get ready. Rosalie and I were sitting in Rosalie's bedroom, banned from moving until we made out big entrance. Rosalie was sitting on a chaise longue, twisting a strand of her straightened hair around her finger. Rose was wearing a red dress that went down to her feet. It had cap sleeves and detailing around the waist that gave her a figure to envy. I, on the other hand was wearing a navy flared dress which a sheer back that came to my mid-thigh. I was sure that I wasn't going to pull off the dress until I saw myself in the mirror. Alice had worked her magic and I now thought I looked beautiful enough to rival my sisters. Alice walked through the bedroom door when she was satisfied that the boys looked ready. She was wearing a pale pink cocktail dress that went with her pale skin perfectly, she paired it with nude heels that were somehow even taller than mine were.

"Everyone ready to go?" Rosalie asked and we both nodded. I took one last look in the mirror, noticing I had neatly the same skin tone as Alice and Rose. I was about to open my mouth and ask when Alice answered my unspoken question.

"Well, we'll all match don't you think? Its why I picked out the blue dress!" Alice whispered so that the rest of the family downstairs wouldn't hear what colour my dress was.

We all walked from Rosalie's bedroom and down the stairs, and astoundingly I didn't trip in the black heels I was wearing. Edward, Emmett and Jasper were all waiting at the bottom of the stairs for us, looking incredibly handsome in off-black suits, each with a handkerchief the same colour as each of our dresses. As soon as I was at the bottom step I was in Edward's embrace. Due to the shoes I was wearing, I was almost the same height as him which I liked. I looked at Edward's hair with a frown.

"Who made you do that to your hair?" I asked. He laughed and raised his eyebrows at me as if the answer was obvious.

 _Alice_

His hair was combed and un-tousled, I hated it and I knew that he did to. I turned to make sure that Alice wasn't looking before I reached up and ran my fingers through his hair, returning it to its normal state.

"Thank you!" Edward whispered as he bent down slightly to kiss me.

"Bella what have you done to his hair? We don't have time to change it we are going to be late… lets go people!" Alice yelled.

"Wait Alice, it's not often you guys go to prom, we want some photographs." Esme chided Alice who looked into the future to see if we were going to be late.

Over the next ten minutes Esme took hundreds of photos, or so it seemed. Esme took photos of: Me and Alice, me and Rosalie, me and Edward and then ones of the three girls, and the three boys and then several group photos. Each of us girls had a photo with Carlisle who had jokingly dressed as a chaperone as Esme and Carlisle would be driving us to prom, although I'm not sure what car will fit us all in.

"Okay, now you can go, your ride is waiting in the garage!" Esme said as she grabbed her jacket and followed Carlisle out the door.

"What!" I heard Emmett yell when he got into the garage.

"What's going on?" I asked as I pulled Edward out of the door, he was smirking so I knew that he knew.

When I walked into the garage I saw what Emmett was so excited about. Rosalie was practically bouncing on her heels besides him at the excitement of tinkering with the vehicle. In front of us there was a white _Range Rover_ SUV what was big enough for every member of the family without us having to use more than one car.

"It's so beautiful!" Emmett shouted as he opened the passenger door to check out the interior.

"You bought us a _Range Rover Sport,_ oh my god I love you guys!" Emmett shouted excitedly as he hugged Carlisle and Esme.

"We thought it would be more efficient." Carlisle said as he climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine. Emmett squealed in delight at the sound of the new car, and you couldn't help but laugh at his antics.

Esme got into the passenger seat after Carlisle. Then, Alice, Edward and I were in the middle row with Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie in the back row. Rosalie had her legs stretched across Emmett's and Jasper's laps so that her dress wouldn't crease. Dad drove the car out of the gates and towards the main town where the high school was. The outside of the school was decorated with the theme, _Night of a Million Lights,_ there were lights strung everywhere, across banners, around trees and around all of the doors that lead into the school gym. Carlisle got out of the car and opened the back door, taking each of the girls' hands to help them out. We each bid goodbye to Carlisle and Esme who drove out of the parking lot. We walked down the lit path into the school gym and waited in a line so that we could have a group photograph. You could hear _Beyoncé 'Crazy in Love'_ playing loudly. I was pulled out of the way just in time by Edward when a drunk boy came stumbling out of the gymnasium. I wondered if I would every get the opportunity to get drunk. I was thinking about it when Alice interrupted my train of thought.

"Bella, that is a great idea!" Alice chimed.

"What is?" I asked, confused.

"As it is prom, I figured we could let our hair down a bit and get a little bit tipsy…" She trailed off suggestively.

"Wait, you can do that?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah, we can. We haven't done it for a while actually. It just takes the hangover longer to wear off because we can't sleep it off." Emmett told me.

"So you guys are going to get drunk at prom?" I asked, the disbelief evident in my voice.

"Yep!" Alice said confidently.

"When was the last time you guys did this and got a hangover?" I wondered.

"Probably about ten years ago at Rosalie's and Emmett's lest wedding."

"It totally sucks that I've probably been hungover more times in my life than you have." I said, dumbfounded.

"You've been drunk?" Jasper asked, he obviously had trouble finding truth in my words.

"Yes, many times. Used to hang around with the wrong crowd back in Phoenix." I told him.

"And you're telling me that we are the _right_ type of crowd." Emmett joked, crossing his arms across his chest.

I crossed my arms are raised by eyebrows at him.

"Back to the getting drunk part of the evening, where do we get it from?" Rosalie asked eagerly.

Alice looked into the future for a second before coming back to the present, grinning.

"It's all under the tables in the hall but its running out quickly so I see us either leaving to hit up a nightclub in the city or Emmett leaves to get us some more with his ID, we could do either. Let's get our photo done and then we can head inside." Alice told us.

We had our photo taken and we walked into prom. I looped my arm through Edwards as he lead the group to one of the tables they had set up. Emmett wandered away from the group to find the alcohol and he came back a few minutes later with a bottle of vodka and six red plastic cups. Emmett poured the vodka into the cups before he added coke to the one that he handed to me. After we started to drink, it didn't take long before we got through the other bottle of vodka and a bottle of tequila. After the amount of alcohol we had consumed, I was as tipsy as the rest of them. I was so surprised that alcohol had any effect on them at all, Alice said that it was something to do ith how Alcohol affects the brain unlike other food and drink products that vampires don't consume. It was so unusual to see Jasper stumbling back to the table, I almost fell over laughing. As the night drew to a close it dawned on us that we needed to get home. Alice was in no fit state to have any visions; she was giggling whilst getting a piggy-back from Jasper.

"Let's just order a cab…" Rosalie droned off, she was leaning up against Emmett.

As I was least drunk out of the group, I searched the internet for a local can firm before dialling the number and asking for two cabs. Soon enough we were piling into the back of the two cabs once I had given them the correct addresses. It was incredibly odd that out of all of them, I was least drunk. The cabs left the school premises, one behind the other and they were soon stopping at the gates outside of the house. I handed my card to our cab driver and Rosalie did the same to theirs. The ca driver thanked me and drove off in the direction of town. I pushed in the code for the gate and it opened to reveal that bright house, it would appear that Carlisle and Esme have been waiting for us to get home.

"Hi, baby…" Edward drawled as he slung his arm around my shoulders. Edward was not walking in a straight line and I was having issues keeping him up as I had been drinking myself.

"Mom! Dad!" I shouted and Esme and Carlisle appeared before me, apparently not shocked at how drunk their children were. Carlisle came over to me and took Edward's arm, leading him into the house where as Esme went to help Alice with Emmett. I turned and went to help Rosalie help Jasper, almost tripping over my own feet.

…

It was early Friday morning and I was still awake, we didn't get in until past one AM and now we were all sitting in the living room in silence. Edward was sitting upright on the couch, his head resting on the back of the sofa, I was stretched out across the couch with my head in Edward's lap, willing the room to stop spinning. Rosalie was sitting on the floor at Emmett's feel, her head resting on his knee. Alice and Jasper were lying side by side on the loveseat. If you were not aware of what had happened, you would just think that a bunch of teenagers were sleeping off a hangover. Mom and dad were standing in front of the television, their arm crossed.

"Right, and are you all aware that you have school tomorrow?" Esme chided us.

A chorus of, "Yes, mom!" was heard around the living room.

"Okay, up to your rooms, and Bella to bed. You have to be up in five hours for school." Carlisle said.

…

I woke up the next morning with a sight headache, but nothing that two aspirin and a cup of coffee wouldn't fix. I showered, washed my hair and blow dried it quickly before curling it slightly. I got dressed in black leggings and a maroon sweater dress with black UGG boots that I bought on my last shopping trip with Alice. It was an outfit that was comfortable, Alice approved and an outfit that said 'hungover' all at the same time. I applied some concealer before making my way downstairs slowly. When I got down to the living room Alice, Edward, Emmett, Jasper and Rosalie were still lying around.

"You guys look delightful!" I joked as I walked over to them.

"Don't talk to loudly Bella." Emmett groaned covering his ears.

"How do you not feel like we do, you drunk the same that we did?" Jasper asked, confused.

"Well, I've slept. I've got a headache but it will be gone once I've drunk my cup of coffee." I smiled as I went into the kitchen to make coffee.

Esme and Carlisle were standing in the kitchen talking when I walked in.

"Good morning, sweetie. How do you feel?" Carlisle asked.

"I feel fine, kind of sorry for them in there." I said, pointing in the direction of the living room.

"Guys come in here!" Esme called. She and Carlisle laughed at the chorus of groans that came after.

"Go for a run, the air will make you feel better. How about Bella meets you at school, I'll take another car so that you have enough cars to get home." Carlisle suggested.

The five of them nodded before taking off out the back door.

"Are you bringing the other car now or later?" I asked him.

"Now, sweetie. I'm working today but I'll be home soon after you get home from school." Carlisle told me.

I hugged Esme and thanked her when she gave me my coffee in a to-go cup. Dad kissed her goodbye before following me into the garage. I got the keys for my Audi and Carlisle got the keys for the SUV out of his pocket. I drove out of the garage first and dad followed behind me down the road into town. When we drove into the school parking lot, it looked as though the majority of year 13 was hungover so we'd fit right in. I drove my car into a space on the far side of the car park and so did Carlisle. I got out of my car and climbed into the Range Rover to wait for the others. Carlisle and I were talking when the others climbed into the car quickly, I hadn't even seen them come through the trees.

"Feel better?" I asked as I turned around in my seat to see them.

Although they still looked hungover, they did look better than they did this morning.

"I'm going, kids, see you later!" Carlisle said as he got out of the car and sped into the forest.

We all followed, getting out of the car and standing near the bonnet waiting for the bell to go off.

Emmett rubbed his eyes, if I didn't know any better I would say he was tired.

"Want some coffee Em, it helped me wake up?" I joked.

Emmett looked at the coffee cup longfully before taking it from my hand and taking a small drink. As soon as he tasted it, he spat it out onto the floor.

"Eww, Bells how do you drink that crap?" Emmett exclaimed.

"It's nice, don't you guys remember drinking coffee?" I wondered.

Every one of them shook their heads and I laughed.

After about fifteen minutes, the bell ran and we all made our way inside. I knew that not the fun was over, it was back to planning and strategizing our plan to get rid of Victoria.

…

The day rolled past in a blur and neither Edward or Alice had left my side all day. Even though their exterior seemed somewhat calm, I knew that inside both Edward and Alice were on edge.

"Please, I know that you're worried about me, but please give me some space." I said, growing annoyed at myself that I was annoyed with them because they were only trying to protect me.

"Sorry, Bella. We're just worried is all." Edward stated, Alice nodding in agreement beside him.

"What lessons do you have this afternoon?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Well I have Trig, Jasper went home with Emmett a while ago, are you going to go home?" Edward said, trig was the only class on our timetable that was different as it was a class that I was not taking.

"Yeah I think so, Alice are you coming?" I said, turning towards the pixie that stood beside Edward:

"No, I think I'll hunt." Alice said, grinning at me.

"Okay, Love I'll see you at home, I'll be back with Rosalie in about an hour." Edward told me before kissing me and skulking of to the extra credit class that he didn't even need.

"I'll see you later? Okay?" Alice said, kissing my cheek before bouncing off towards the cafeteria doors that lead outside. I followed her but at a slower pace. I reached my car and climbed inside, closing the door behind me and inserting the key into the ignition. The car roared to life and I was soon driving steadily along the main road to the house.

I travelled down the road at a steady pace, tapping my fingertips against the steering wheel as I was driving along, listening to music and thinking about doing some wedding planning with Alice this weekend. I turned the last corner and there she was standing there right on the corner. Victoria. I didn't have time to slam my breaks on before I collided with her rock like body and flew sideways into the oak tree that was standing to my right.

I woke up several minutes later, my car was on its side and I could smell the petrol leaking from the engine. I lifted my hand and bought it to my head, blood running down my arm and into my hair.

The last thing I heard was Victoria's voice before everything turned black.

" _Farewell, my sweet Bella, finally I have had my revenge."_ Before standing up and walks away from the wreckage. And from me.

…

 **Alice POV**

"Bella!" I yelled after coming out of a vision as I walked away from the school and into the forest. Edward was by my side in an instant and Rosalie was hurriedly running down the through the school doors, not running at our speed because of the cameras.

"We need to go. Now!" Edward yelled through gritted teeth, after seeing what was about to happen in my thoughts.

We were already running through the car lot when Rosalie snapped out of her trance and asked what was wrong.

"Bella. We need to hurry Rosalie." I said, getting into the passenger seat of the car. Rosalie leapt into the back seat of the car and slammed the door. Edward got into the car and he was speeding out of the school parking lot before I closed the passenger door.

"Alice, call Emmett and Jasper." Rosalie said quickly.

I frantically pulled my phone out of my jacket pocket and dialled the number for Jasper's phone.

" _Alice? What's going on?"_ Jasper asked, he had the phone on loudspeaker.

"Bella!" I managed to gasp out before the phone was taken out of my hand by Rosalie.

She held the phone to her ear before she began to speak.

"Jasper, you and Emmett need to head out the front gates and follow Bella's scent. Be warned, there will be blood. I'll call Carlisle. She's going to die if we don't hurry!" She exclaimed, tears that would never shed filling my eyes.

" _Rosie, we're leaving now and Jasper is on the phone to Carlisle. She'll be okay, I promise."_ Emmett said before ending the call. Edward continued to speed through the town to Bella at breakneck speed.

 **Emmett POV**

"Where is Carlisle?" I asked Jasper who had just ended his call with Carlisle.

"He's at the hospital, come on we need to find her, quickly."

"Let's go." I said before walking out of the front door and out of the gate which separated the house from the main road.

Bella's scent hit us immediately. We could smell the blood so we knew that she may be gravely injured. Jasper and I immediately took off in a southern direction, heading towards the town. We ran the fastest we ever had through the woods, following Bella's scent. We broke out of the woods and into a small clearing at the first turning on the road out of town.

Jasper and I observed the clearing quickly before spotting Bella's car rammed into a tree with a familiar redhead looming over it. I was immediately filled with anger which I am sure that jasper could feel bleeding into him.

"Emmett." Jasper murmured to me in warning.

"Get Bella." I said before taking of in the direction that Victoria had taken off running in. I was right on her tail.

Victoria abruptly turned left, thinking that I was going to follow her. I, however, decided to keep going straight in a northern direction. When Victoria crossed my path a few seconds later, I didn't hesitate to grab her by the neck and tear it straight from her shoulders.

"That's for my sister you daft bitch." I mumbled do her before taking a lighter from my pocket and setting her alight, the purple fumes reaching higher into the atmosphere every second.

I began to run back to the clearing where Bella and Jasper were. The smell of Bella's blood was evident, even from miles away where I was, there was no doubt that the others would be able to find us. When I broke through the trees and into the clearing, Jasper and Carlisle were leaning over Bella. Before I knew what was happening, Carlisle bent down and bit Bella, ending her mortality.

 **Jasper POV**

Emmett took off into the trees like a flash, leaving only me and Bella, still in the car. I ran over to the car as fast as I could and pulled the door clean off its hinges.

There Bella lay, her arms and the side of her face that I could see where covered in blood and she was struggling to move or breathe properly.

"Bella, we're here, it's going to be fine, you're going to be okay." I said whilst unclipping her seatbelt and lifting her out of the overturned car gently. I ignored the smell of her blood protruding my senses, she was my sister, I had to help her.

I looked up from my sister when a car came screeching into the clearing. Carlisle. Relief washed through me and it was soon replaced with Carlisle's worry for Bella.

"Jasper, what's happened, what's wrong with her?" Carlisle asked, kneeling at my side.

"I think her chest cavity has been crushed, I didn't want to move her in case any of her ribs are broken and they puncture her heart." I said, stroking her hair.

"She'll be okay, Jasper." Carlisle told me reassuringly.

"She's not, you have to do it now Carlisle or she'll die." I said with my head down.

"Dad, help me." Bella choked out, blood running from her mouth.

"It's okay, Sweetheart, I'll make it better I promise." Carlisle said before he lowered his head and bit into Bella's neck. Bella suddenly became rigid before falling into a deep sleep.

"Carlisle…" I said, worried for my sister.

"It's okay, she's just reacting to the venom, she will wake up in a few minutes and she will be in pain so we need to get her home." He told me.

Suddenly Emmett came running into the clearing and straight to Bella's side.

"Did you do it?" He asked Carlisle hurriedly.

"Yes, I didn't have a choice, she was going to die if I didn't." Carlisle said, picking up Bella in his arms and holding her tightly.

"Get rid of the car, take it back to the house if you can and we can hope that nobody saw what happened, who was it?" Carlisle asked.

"Victoria, but she's been taken care of." Emmett said, nodding in the direction of the smoke emerging through the top of the trees.

"Good, if you hadn't, I'd have probably killed her myself. "Carlisle stated quietly.

That is not like Carlisle at all, but I completely agree. The woman _used_ to pose a threat to my sister and if Emmett didn't kill her, there is no doubt that Carlisle and the rest of our family would destroy her.

I was so focused on Bella that it startled me when another car came screeching into the clearing at the side of the road. Alice, Edward and Rose got out of the car and they were beside us in an instant.

"What happened?" Rosalie demanded as she fell to her knees beside Jasper.

"Her chest cavity was punctured by the force of the crash, it was Victoria, Emmett took care of it, did anyone call Esme?" Carlisle replied.

"Did you do it? And yes I did, she's preparing the house." Rosalie replied.

"Yes I did do it, if I didn't she would have died, she I'll wake soon and be in an extreme amount of pain, I didn't have time for morphine." Carlisle replied, looking sorrowfully at Edward.

"She'll be okay?" Edward mumbled, taking Bella from Carlisle's arms and lifting her into his own.

Carlisle looked to Alice for support.

"Edward, she'll be perfect. In three days' time she will be one of us and she will be okay, I promise." Alice replied, resting her hand on Edward's shoulder for support.

"We're going back to the house?" I asked.

"Yes, Esme is there waiting for us and she'll be worried." Carlisle replied, getting up from the ground.

"What are we doing with the car?" Emmett asked.

"Destroy it. There's no use for it now and it can't be fixed." Alice replied, her smile vanishing.

"Okay, Jazz and I will sort it and meet you there." Emmett told Carlisle before he kissed Bella's forehead and took off in the direction of the burning car.

Carlisle and Edward disappeared into the trees, Edward had Bella tucked securely in his arms, headed towards the house. Alice and Rosalie ran over to the cars that we bought with us. Rosalie got into the SUV and sped off down the road, closely followed by Alice in Carlisle's Mercedes.

"How are we doing this then?" Emmett asked, pacing around the car.

"Well we need to do something soon, the smoke will start attracting attention." I said.

"Maybe we should just push it into the river, it's very deep here? That would solve both issues, the smoke and the car. We need to make sure the registration plates have been burned though." Emmett suggested.

"Yeah okay." I replied, the smell of blood starting to get to me, even though Emmett was perfectly under control.

"Is this not even getting to you even a tiny bit?" I asked Emmett.

"No? Is it getting to you? Man, she's my sister of course it doesn't bother me."

"It's is a bit, but it's in my mind that she needs our help and she's our sister and…"

I was cut off by a blood curdling scream.

 _Bella_

"We need to hurry this along, she needs us." I told Emmett who was already pushing the car into the river, trying not to set his clothes on fire.

The car landed at the bottom of the river with an audible thud after about twenty seconds. We turned and nodded to each other before taking off in the direction of the house. Alice was sitting on the front porch when we got there, her head in her hands.

"Go inside to Bella, I got this." Emmett said before he sat down beside Alice on the steps and pulled her to him.

I ran into the house and up the stairs into Bella and Edward's bedroom where Bella was lying, her jaw locked, trying not to scream in pain.

"Bella, I'll try to make it better okay?" I said, kneeling beside her and taking her hand. I pushed my power towards her, and if she wasn't in so much pain she would have been knocked out from the pain relief I was pushing at her. Bella's pain eased up slightly and she was able to release her jaw slightly.

"Thank you, Jasper." Edward said form where he was sitting, Bella's head was laying on his lap.

Esme came into the room with a washcloth and a bowl of water and began to wash the blood from Bella's face and arms before she began to clean the blood from Bella's hair.

 **Emmett POV**

"Alice?" I asked and she shook her head.

"What happened?" I said, pulling her away from my shoulder so that I could see her eyes.

As I expected, they were red and filled with venom, tears that she would never be able to cry.

"What happened?" I asked, more softly this time.

"The scream Emmett, I can't stand it, all of us know exactly what she's going through, it's something she will never forget. She was supposed to get married and be happy Emmett!" Alice cried before letting out a sob and leaning her head back on my shoulder.

"That is still going to happen. She is going to get through this, with all of our help. Her and Edward will still get married, she's going to live Alice, I promise." I said comfortingly to my little sister.

"You really think so? I can't see anything straight I'm so emotionally messed up." She said, showing me her beautiful smile at the end.

"I know so, Alice, shall we go inside?" I asked, standing up.

"Yeah let's go and see if we can help." She replied, standing up and hugging me tightly before walking inside, her usual pixie like manner missing.

…

 **Bella POV**

I had been burning for over 48 hours when the pain began to retreat from my toes and my fingertips. It was a welcomed sensation, meaning as the rest of my body still felt like it was on fire. So far I had managed to keep quiet for the majority of the time, only screaming when the pain got really bad for a few hours' yesterday. I could hear my family speaking around me, everyone was in my room, and nobody had left during the last 48 hours. I knew that the vast majority of the pain had come when the fire reached my heart. I could continuously hear my family moving around me. Edward, Jasper and Emmett had not moved one inch. Jasper was constantly holding my left hand, with Edward holding my right. I knew that the worst of the pain was over now that the pain had started to move from my fingers and toes, I remember Carlisle telling me.

 **Rosalie POV**

Bella had been out for over two days and her heart was continuously speeding up, one heartbeat at a time. I knew very well from my own experience, as well as Emmett's, that the transformation is the most painful process that a vampire would ever go through. I turned around when Esme entered the room with a damp cloth to place on Bella's forehead.

"Will that help?" I asked.

"I have no idea, but it wouldn't hurt to try." Esme said, placing the cloth on Bella's forehead before kissing it and going to sit near Carlisle.

…

A few hours had passed and Bella was still managing to keep quiet, it was startling really. You could tell she was in pain though, her eyes were tightly closed and her jaw was locked. Just then, Bella's heart began to speed up at an unprecedented rate.

"It's time." Carlisle said standing up and leaving the room, followed by Esme.

"Edward, she'll be okay for just a few minutes, Alice and I will take care of her, I promise." I said, trying to reassure him and failing. Edward must have heard proof in Alice's thoughts because he stood up and kissed Bella briefly before walking reluctantly out of the room behind Emmett and Jasper.

Alice and I quickly changed Bella's clothes, ready for her to wake up. I ran a brush through her hair and Alice put on her shoes. I looked up to see a pair of black stilettos on Bella's feet.

"Alice." I groaned.

"What? They're nice!" Alice said, smiling at her choice in footwear.

"Alice, she's going to be pissed enough that she's wearing a dress, let alone heeled shoes. Put on those cute black socks she bought when we went on our shopping trip a few weeks back." I said, laying the brush on the bedside cabinet.

"Guys, you can come back in now." I said and Edward, Emmett and Jasper were back in their original places before I even turned my head away from the door.

"Jazz." My attention was caught by Emmett.

"Sorry, Em." Jasper mumbled, shifting his weight on the chair beside the bed.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Jasper was projecting emotions, could you not feel it?"

"No, too focused on counting Bella's heartbeats." I mumbled, continuing to count. As Jasper placed his hand back in Bella's, her heart stopped and the room went silent. Everybody leaned forward, anticipation in the air. It was only a few seconds more before Bella's eyes flew open to reveal her red eyes and the beginning of her immortality as a Cullen.

 _ **In case you didn't know, in the United Kingdom Year 13 is the equivalent of the last year of high school in the United States.**_


	16. Chapter 16

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 16**

 _ **Sorry about the short chapter, I just wanted to get something up as I'm working on another fanfiction right now. Thanks for all of the support I love y'all!**_

 **Bella POV**

Everything was so clear, so intriguing. I could hear the waves crashing off the rocks at the beach behind the house. I should see the distinct lines in the wooden flooring the bed rested upon. But overall, I could sense a presence in the room. I turned my head slowly towards my family, waiting for their reactions. The smile that rested upon Edward's face softened my fears and soon I was across the room and in his arms.

"I love you." He murmured into my shoulder.

"I love you, too. What happened? I don't really remember?" I asked, taking my eyes away from Edward and looking at Carlisle.

"Victoria ran in front of the car and the car ended up wrapped around the tree." Carlisle said, his face glum.

"Oh yeah, that I remember. She was just standing there when I was coming around the corner, she was trying to kill me." I said, shuddering at the thought.

"Yes, we had assumed as much." Carlisle said, his face brightening a little at the sight of me.

"What happened to her? And the car?" I asked, worried that she was going to come after me again.

"Emmett took care of Victoria and then we destroyed the car." Jasper answered, speaking for the first time.

I grinned at the sight of my brother and the rest of my siblings.

I left Edward's side for the first time and made my way towards Jasper who opened his arms at my approach. I slung my arms around his neck and he didn't have to bend down as much thanks to the monstrosity heels that I was wearing on my feet.

"Woah, easy Darlin'" Jasper mumbled, his arms tightening a little.

"Sorry." I said, grinning as he kissed my forehead before pulling away.

I made my way down the line, hugging Alice, then Emmett and then Rosalie, coming upon Esme and Carlisle last.

Esme placed her hand onto my cheek and I leant into her touch, noticing that she was no longer cold to the touch.

"Mom, Dad." I said, grinning widely. I was soon encased in a hug from both of them. I pulled away and turned towards my siblings when someone cleared their throat.

"Ready to hunt?" Emmett asked, a mischievous grin plastered on his face.

I looked down at myself to see what I was wearing, surely I wasn't wearing the top and skinny jeans I was wearing the day of the accident? I looked down to my feet and noticed my footwear. I looked up at Alice and Rosalie, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Uh, don't look at me! It was the pixies idea!" Rosalie stated, pointing her well manicured finger at Alice.

"Come on Bella! Now you've been changed you can get over your fear of fashion!" Alice stated, grinning from ear to ear triumphantly.

"Fine, lets go!" I said, turning to Edward who held out a pair of converse for me. I kissed him in thanks and put them on my feet.

•••

Two hours later I was fully satisfied and sitting on the beach at the back of the house with my family. Carlisle and Esme were sitting on the chairs that surrounded the table, watching us on the beach below us. The rest of them were teaching me how to control my speed with a ball, meaning as it was dark and we were on the secluded beach that was attached to the house.

"What now?" I asked, I was now able to control my speed when I was moving around normally.

"Oh! We could try and find what your power is!" Emmett suggested, taking a seat on one of the deck chairs Esme had placed on the beach.

"Yeah alright, let's have a go." I said, all of us sat in a circle. I was sat next to Edward, with Rosalie sitting next to Emmett and Alice sitting besides Jasper on the sand.

I tried to do exactly what I was able to do when I was human, push all of the thoughts out of my mind and focus.

"Who am I focusing on?" I asked, keeping my thoughts focused and my eyes closed.

"Oh! Try me!" Emmett cried from the seat opposite me.

I focused my energy and visioned a shield encasing the pair of us. I opened my eyes a few moments later to find everyone looking at Edward.

"Well? Did it work? Can you hear my thoughts?" Emmett asked simultaneously.

"Not a single thought." Edward replied, smiling at me proudly.

"Okay, when you were human, your talent didn't affect Alice and I, try it now." Jasper suggested.

Once again, I focused my thoughts and energy on Alice and Jasper, when I opened my eyes, everyone was once again looking at Edward.

"I can't hear your thoughts, try your own talent." Edward asked, looking at his siblings, curiosity etched onto his face.

I was soon wrapped in a wave of calm, which showed that Jasper's ability was indeed, intact. At almost the same time, Alice had a vision, I felt Edward tense slightly and ten calm beside me.

"What? What do you see?" I asked, worried.

"Visitors, tonight, they want to welcome to the area." Alice stated, her emotions returning back too normal and a smile crossing her face.

"Why are you smiling? That's not good." I asked, confused about what she was so happy about, there was a chance I could hurt them I was only a few hours old.

"Bella, calm down love. You won't hurt them." Edward reassured me, his hand resting on the small of my back.

"How can you be sure?" I asked, astounded that they weren't worried about my control.

"Your self control is unprecedented, Bella, we know you won't hurt them." Jasper reassured me.

"Yes but it's still a risk." I said, back.

"No it's not, you're not thirsty at all are you?" Jasper asked.

"Not really, there's just a slight ache, so no not really."

"You just confirmed my point, Bells, I'm probably the one with the least amount of self control and I'm over 130 years older than you." Jasper muttered.

"Jasper that's bullshit." I stated nonchalantly.

Everyone looked at me with surprise and I muttered an apology to Esme and Carlisle for my use of colourful language.

"What do you mean?" Jasper asked me, confused at my outburst.

"Jasper, your ability is monitoring emotions, you're an empath, you have to feel the thirst of six other vampires and now me as well, and with the way that I used to smell to Edward, it's ridiculous that you managed to fully maintain control."

"Yes but I didn't." Jasper muttered, If I'd been human, I wouldn't have heard him.

"You didn't what?" I asked, confused.

"I didn't maintain control, I neatly killed you at your party."

"Jasper, that was my own fault, I should have been more careful, that accident was nobody's fault but my own." I said quietly.

"Bella that wasn't your fault." Jasper muttered.

"Yes it was, I don't blame you for what happened, Jasper, please try to let it go, for me?" I asked, pulling my best ' _come on I'm your sister'_ face.

"Alright Bells, I'll give it a go." Jasper resided, flashing me a smile.

"Now then, back to our unwanted guests." Emmett said.

"Don't be rude Emmett!" Everyone heard Esme shout from the decking.

Everyone burst into fits of laughter as Emmett bowed his head and apologised to Esme.

"Back to the question guys." Emmett murmured.

"As long as Bella is okay with it, we can just act normally, invite them in for a drink or something and then send them on their way after a little while." Carlisle said, coming over to join the conversation with Esme.

"I'll keep my shield open and keep my mind open to Edward, at least then if anything happens you can stop it." I said, not understanding why they had so much trust in me.

"Bella, you'll be okay, even if you didn't keep your shield off, you wouldn't hurt them." Jasper said from his seat next to me.

I smiled at him and looked to Edward for some reassurance.

"Bella, we one hundred percent trust you with this, we don't see you hurting anybody, Alice would have seen it. Although, your self control is scarily good for a vampire that's only six hours old." He said.

"Yeah that reassured me, thanks babe." I said, pushing his shoulder lightly.

"What time will they be here?" Esme asked, interceding into the conversation for the first time.

"They will arrive at nine thirty-seven, so we have eighteen minutes." Alice said, returning to the present from her vision.

"Okay then, we need to…" Carlisle started, only to be interrupted by Emmett.

"Mess up the kitchen, humans would be cooking around about now for their meal." Emmett suggested.

"Set up a game or something in the living room, we need to look like a _normal_ family and they will leave as soon as possible once they see they have interrupted something." Jasper said.

"Be scattered all over the house so that it doesn't look like we were expecting them." Edward suggested after Jasper.

Carlisle looked peeved at being interrupted for one second more before a smile eased onto his face. I looked around my siblings and parents, startled at how prepared they are for this. I laughed lightly as I remembered that is exactly what they were doing when I arrived at the Cullen house for the first time. They were all scattered about the house with Emmett, Carlisle, Esme and Rosalie cooking in the kitchen.

Edward smile slightly as be realised what thought had crossed my mind.

•••

A while had passed since we had come back indoors after spending some time as a family on the beach. It was so nice that the beach was secluded and private, it meant that we could be ourselves there without being afraid of any repercussions. Thinking of the beach made me think about things back in Forks, about La Push and Jacob and his fellow pack members messing around on the beach.

 _Jacob_

I shivered involuntarily at the thought and Edward was immediately at my side. He cupped my cheeks with his hands and turned me to face him.

"Love? What's wrong?" He asked. I looked up to see a worried expression crossing his features.

"Nothing, I'm fine." I lied. I knew he'd figure it out as soon as the words crossed my lips.

"Bella, I know when you're not okay, tell me the truth." He stated, raising an eyebrow at my short answer.

"Nothing really, I was just thinking about something and _he_ crossed my mind, that's all." I assured him, snuggling into his side and resting my head on his shoulder.

Of course, Edward, as well as the rest of our family, knew exactly who I was referring to when I said _he._ As far as my family and Edward were concerned, if Jacob was ever to set foot on their land it wouldn't be acceptable. I know, as well as the others that Jasper, Emmett and Edward were dying to get a free crack at Jacob after what happened at La Push a fortnight ago, and I don't blame them. I know that I would want to hurt something or someone if anyone ever did what they did to me to any other member of my family.

Everyone looked towards the door when a car came through the already open gates. Edward, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Rose and I settled on the sofas like a 'normal' family and Carlisle and Esme got up to greet our _rather_ unwanted guests.


	17. Chapter 17

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 17**

 _Everyone looked towards the door when a car came through the already open gates. Edward, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Rose and I settled on the sofas like a 'normal' family and Carlisle and Esme got up to greet our rather unwanted guests._

 **Bella POV**

The door knocked and Carlisle took a few seconds to go over to the door to answer it. I could hear him introducing himself over the noise of the movie that we were watching.

"Hello, I am Carlisle Cullen, are you local residents?" Carlisle acted like he didn't already know the answer to their question.

"Hello sir, I am Colette Richards and this is my husband Simon. These are our children Nikki and Arron; they're twins you see. They were at the same school as your children before yours left at the end of the school year. You look awfully young to have so many children if I do say so myself." The woman, _Colette_ , said.

I disliked her already, even though Carlisle was in the hallway and we were all in the living room you could hear her lust for the young, attractive doctor in her voice. I looked towards Jasper and he nodded at me, confirming what I was thinking.

Carlisle lead forward the family, who stopped short slightly when they saw us all lounging around the living room. Each of them looked around the living room with envy before focusing their gazes of us once more.

"Hi, I'm Esme, Carlisle's wife." Esme told the woman, shaking her hand and making it very clear to her that Carlisle was not available. I had never seen Esme turn territorial over Carlisle before and to be honest, it showed that she was a fiery woman.

"My, you do have a large family…" The woman's husband mused to himself, staring off in the distance to the movie that was playing on the television in the distance.

The family took another step forward and I held my breath, not wanting to chance what could happen if I wasn't careful. Of course, Edward noticed and he pulled me closer, putting his arm around my shoulder. The young girl, Nikki, her face flashed for a few moments with envy when Edward pulled me closer.

"Yes, Esme and I have several foster children and adopted children. This is Rosalie, Jasper, Alice, Emmett, Bella an Edward. We just moved here from Alaska, have you lived here for long?" Carlisle asked, trying to take the attention off of us.

"Kids, don't you have things to do tonight, I thought you were having a bonfire on the beach?" Esme asked. We were not planning on having a bonfire, it would just be easier if there were only two people for the curious neighbours to focus on.

"Oh yeah! We did, come on Jazz lets go and sort it out. Edward, Bella grab blankets to keep warm and Rosalie, Alice you are in charge of snacks for the campout." Emmett said before walking out the back door, closely followed by Jasper.

As soon as Edward and I were upstairs to collect 'blankets' he pulled me into his arms.

"Love are you okay, let me know what you are thinking?" he asked me.

I opened my shield to him so that he could read my mind.

For my first time around a human it wasn't that bed, there was only a slight burn and that was easily manageable. Maybe Jasper was right, maybe I do have unprecedented self-control.

"Edward what is wrong with my self-control?" I worried.

"There's nothing wrong with it, it's just unusual. It is not common in the slightest for your level of thirst to be like this. Maybe it's just because you were prepared for your change so you had time to deal with your level of bloodlust and your thirst, but we should definitely talk to Carlisle about it more." He said, trying his best to reassure me.

"Okay, we can talk to him tomorrow." I said, burying my head in his chest.

"So we are actually having a bonfire tonight?" I wondered.

"Yes, if that's okay with you, we can have a bonfire and plan some of the wedding at the same time, we still haven't set a date. Besides, now you have been changed, we can have it whenever you would like." He said, kissing my forehead.

"Okay, babe." I said, pulling away from him.

"Let's go and find blankets so that mom and dad can talk to these neighbours." He said.

We walked upstairs to the linen closet and retrieved several blankets to take downstairs, by that time, Carlisle and Esme were saying goodbye to the visitors on the porch.

"You wait here and I'll let you know when it's done." Edward said and I went to sit on the couch beside Alice.

I was sitting upright, Alice was French braiding my hair, when Emmett walked in through the back door.

"Bells, Alice, come outside for a minute." Emmett said, a smirk on his face.

I looked up from the position that Alice was holding my head in whilst she was securing the braids with an elastic.

"Why?" I wondered, my bear-of-a-brother's smirk grew larger.

"Bella, humour me!" He exclaimed as he turned back around to join Esme and Rosalie on the porch.

Alice and I got up, she was smirking so she already knew what was happening outside. I walked outside to find Jasper and Emmett sparring with Carlisle on the beach. To my surprise, Carlisle is winning, by far. Just as I think Jasper and Edward are gaining ground, Carlisle got Jasper on the floor and he swung his arm backwards, taking Edward's legs out from underneath him. I was cheering for Carlisle, of course. Jasper stood up and noticed us on the porch for the first time, they were far to immersed in their brawl. Jasper feigned hurt that I was supporting Carlisle for a moment before he smirked and challenged Alice to a duel, to which she accepted. Edward shook his head at his brother and sister before coming over towards me, wrapping his rums around my waist from behind.

"How did you miss that?" I asked him, I thought that he would her what Carlisle was planning.

"Well, truth be told, Alice had a vision." He said, kissing my cheek.

"Oh?" I wondered.

"Nothing bad, just rain in the early hours of the morning." He assured me.

"Yo, guys this bonfire is ready if you are?" Emmett shouted from down on the beach.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and walked in the direction of the huge bonfire that Jasper, Edward and Emmett had set up.

"You boys have outdone yourselves with this, I am impressed." Esme gushed as she sat down in one of the deck chairs next to Carlisle.

"So, now that everyone is sitting comfortably, we need to decide on a date for the wedding!" Alice squealed, taking her wedding planning journal out of nowhere.

"How about the end of July, beginning of August? Can you do everything by then Alice?" Edward asked.

"Yes! The sooner the better! Bella will finally be a Cullen!" Alice squealed in delight, writing the date down in her book before starting to list items on an attracted _to do_ list.

"Okay, how about the fourteenth of July, reasonable weather so we can have the wedding right here on the beach?" Alice wondered.

"July fourteenth it is…" I said as I snuggled further into Edward. We were getting married in less than a month and I couldn't be happier about it, I was finally going to be a Cullen.


	18. Chapter 18

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 18**

 **Bella POV**

Six weeks had passed extraordinarily fast. Since the night of our bonfire on the beach and our visit from the Richards family, Alice had been working constantly on wedding preparations. I had, what felt like hundreds, of dress fittings, followed by meetings with Alice about decorations, we even ended up having an argument when Alice asked us what kind of cake we wanted.

 _ **Flashback**_

 _ **It was a Thursday afternoon and I was sitting by the window with Edward. His back was resting against the wall and I was sitting between his legs, my head resting comfortably on his chest. My moment of serenity ended when the door swung open and Alice walked in, carrying her scrapbook in her hand.**_

" _ **We were supposed to talk about this already, this morning. We need to talk about your cake and…" Alice continued to speak, until I interrupted her.**_

" _ **Hold up Alice. You want a cake that nobody will eat?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.**_

" _ **Well, I know that nobody will eat it, but its traditional for the bride and groom to cut the cake." She said, as it was a matter of fact.**_

" _ **But its such as waste of time." I stated.**_

" _ **But Bella! It's tradition and it's necessary." Alice said, her voice raising slightly.**_

" _ **Alice, it's our wedding, and I know I said you could plan it but I did say there was conditions…" I trailed off.**_

" _ **I'm ordering a cake." Alice said blatantly before turning on her heel and walking out of the room, closing the door behind her.**_

" _ **Alice! Get your pixie ass back here! Do not order a cake!" I shouted.**_

" _ **Nope." Her bell like tone sounded through the house and I huffed, crossing my arms around my chest.**_

" _ **Don't worry about Alice, my love. Carlisle and Esme will reign her in if she goes to far." Edward reassured me.**_

" _ **I know, but I wish she'd listen to me." I muttered.**_

" _ **I know, but Alice will be Alice."**_

 _ **End of flashback**_

After that, Alice and I didn't speak for nearly two days. I was aware that it was a petty argument, but someone needed to stop Alice from going out of control. The argument finally ended when Esme stepped in. Carlisle was at work and the boys blatantly refused to get involved. After the argument had kicked up a gear the following night, Edward and Jasper announced they were going hunting and asked Esme to call them when it had calmed down, Rosalie and Emmett followed them. After that, Alice and I had a huge shouting match but we both ended up apologising to each other, something that everyone was glad about.

But now, I was sitting on the bed Edward and I shared six days before our wedding. Edward was away for the night with Emmett and Alice hunting, something I was happy about, Alice had been driving me crazy.

I looked back down at my book, _The Turn of the Screw_ , and caught sight of the ring that sat on my finger. _Six days and I'll be Mrs. Edward Cullen._ When Edward had originally proposed the idea of marriage I had been shocked, I had said no, something that I now regret. I knew that Jacob hated the idea, he had kissed me knowing that I didn't love him like that. That was a thought that still hurt even now. The hurt I was feeling decreased and I looked up to see Jasper standing in the doorway.

"What made you feel like that?" He asked, taking the book from my hands as he sat beside me on the bed.

"I was just thinking about things. Everything that happened with Jacob still hurts every time I think about it, and I really want the thought to go away. He was my best friend, Jazz, how am I supposed to feel about everything that happened. Even though he knew how I felt about him, he continued to do it as he felt like he _deserved_ it, what if he hadn't stopped Jasper? I hate to think of the situation ending that way, but it could have happened, I had no idea of what Jacob was capable of." I said quickly, not pausing for a second. Jasper pulled me to him and hugged me to his chest tightly.

"You never have to see him again, Bells. I promise. If he dares to come near you again, I will make sure that he regrets it. Besides I wouldn't be alone, I'm sure that Edward, Emmett and Carlisle won't be far behind me." Jasper assured me, stroking my hair comfortingly.

I looked up at Jasper confused, lifting my head from his shoulder.

"Carlisle?" I asked, confused. Carlisle was the one person after Esme that would never resort to violence.

"Someone assaulted you, Bella. When you came to our house crying and he found out what happened, he was murderous, nearly worse than Emmett and I." He told me.

"He was?" I asked. I knew that Jasper and Emmett were angry, they were all for going down to the reservation to pay a visit to Jacob.

"He was, I would know remember." He confirmed, smirking.

"Will they be back soon?" I wondered, resting my head on his shoulder once again.

"Within the hour I think, they shouldn't be too long now." He answered.

I looked down at my ring again when it caught my eye.

"So, Bella Cullen, huh? That's got a nice ring to it." Jasper said.

"Yeah I think so too, I wish I'd have said yes sooner. I can't help but feel like I hurt him when I said no the first time." I muttered.

Jasper turned to me, his expression confused.

"Why do you think that?" He asked me.

"I don't know, I just do. When I said no the first time after we came back from Italy, I knew I hurt him, but now…" Jasper cut me off.

"Bella, he understood why you said no the first time. He knew the reason why, after your experience with marriage he definitely understood why. But, he knew that he would get that ring on your finger eventually, after all, Alice had seen it." He reassured me.

"Alice saw it? Why didn't she tell me?"

"She saw it, but she didn't know when it was going to happen. Alice was not going to tell Edward when she first saw it but she decided to in the end, I'm sure she was fed up of his usual moping about. Alice decided not to tell you because she didn't want it to influence your decision, which I suppose was a good thing. But after Edward found out, they were the only ones that knew, Alice didn't tell anyone else what she'd seen." He said, grinning at his wife's antics.

"I think I'm glad I didn't know in the end, even though it probably would have made the decision easier. Did Alice see us moving?" I wondered.

Jasper shook his head.

"No, of course she couldn't see what happened on the reservation. She couldn't see anything until we were trying to find you after you crossed the border. And then she couldn't see what happened with your father as it was a last second decision. After that she didn't see anything until Carlisle decided to talk to us about it last month." He said, stroking my hair again. I smiled when I heard the unmistakable hum of Alice's Porsche coming down the road.

Jasper's words ran through my head again, _last month._

I still couldn't believe what had happened in the last two months. I had become engaged, stopped speaking to my parents, lost my best friend, moved to England and then I was changed. So much had happened, I was having a hard time keeping up with everything.

The memories with what happened with my parents were still raw. It was still hard to think about them, even after everything that had happened. Even if I was going to reach out to them, it would be impossible now that I had been changed. Edward had asked me if I wanted to invite them to the wedding, and I could wear contacts to cover up my eyes. Over the last few weeks, I had been hunting more regularly, and now my eyes were the same colour as Edward's. However, after a conversation with Alice I had decided not too send them an invitation as they could notice the changes.

"Let's go and meet them." Jasper said, pulling me from my reverie.

I smiled at him gratefully when he offered me his hand to help me from the bed. We walked down the stairs to find Esme and Carlisle in the living room, they smiled in greeting when we walked into the room. I heard the clatter of metal and I walked into the garage, finding Rosalie leaning over the hood of my _new car_. I grimaced at the thought. Rosalie peered over the top of the hood of the red Ferrari that was now parked in the garage. Ever since it had arrived three weeks ago, Rosalie had been working on her new project, making the car run better than it already did. I stepped closer, leaning against the door of the Ferrari 458 that stood out in the garage, even next to Edward's Vanquish and Alice's Porsche.

"What are you doing to it now?" I asked her.

Rosalie closed the bonnet and looked up at me, reaching for a towel to clean her hands.

"I'm nearly done with it, just need to change the oil and top up the water and I'm done. Then I'll need to find a new project to do." She sighed.

"I am sure that Edward will be adding a new car to the collection soon enough, he was talking about it." I smirked, knowing this information would make her exceedingly happy.

"So, last day to high school here tomorrow, how's everything going with Grace?" She wondered, throwing the towel into the bin with expert precision.

"She hasn't said a word to me since that day by the lockers, where the guys _warned_ her, and she has no idea that her clothes were destroyed by us. The look on her face whenever she sees one of the guys in the hall is priceless. I almost feel sorry for the girl, she isn't even leering at Edward any more." I said, laughing.

Rosalie joined in my laughter and soon a booming laugh joined also. I looked up to see Emmett standing in the doorway listening to our conversation.

"I'll leave you two to it, I'm going to find Edward." I said, taking a step backwards and hugging Emmett before walking towards the living room.

"I'm nearly done with the car, you can take it to school tomorrow!" Rosalie called after me.

I rolled my eyes at my big sisters antics and continued to walk up the stairs to the living room where I could hear everyone else talking, minus Emmett and Rosalie. As soon as I stepped foot into the living room, I was encased in Edward's arms. I pulled back after a moment and kissed him before speaking.

"Hey, how was your trip." I asked, running my hand through his hair.

"Good, I hunted, Emmett and Edward messed around sparring as per usual." Alice answered for him, suddenly appearing beside me. I pulled her into a hug and she kissed my cheek in greeting. She smiled at me and went to sit next to Jasper on the couch.

"I am glad you had fun but you do need to hunt you know." I whispered in his ear and he grinned.

"I did, next time you can come with us." He said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

I rolled my eyes and chucked before leading him over to the couches where the family was sitting, chatting amongst themselves.

"Everyone ready for your last day at school tomorrow?" Esme asked motherly.

Everyone in the room nodded at her in answer.

"When are we not?" Emmett joked, coming into the living room with Rosalie in tow.

"Well there was the time that…" Esme started.

"Actually, don't answer that question." Emmett corrected himself.

Esme smiled, her eyes lighting up.

Tomorrow was not my first day back after my change. The first day back was okay, after three days of worry I had been fine. For days I had been reassured by everyone that nothing was going to happen, and Alice hadn't seen anything but it still worried me. Jasper had spent the thirty six hours before we went back to school calming me down. Even after all of the worry, everything had been fine, which of course made me admit that everyone was right and I was wrong, much to my dismay. I had hunted the night before to make it easier. Edward and I had gone to a wildlife national park in North Wales for two days. Even after that, I still wasn't 100% comfortable going to school around so many humans. On the morning of school, I had been so worried I allowed Alice to choose my clothes and do my hair, I even had to wear contact lenses that matched the Cullen's eye colour. It was decided that I would use that colour instead of my brown eyes so that there wouldn't be a change when I went back to school after my eyes changed from red to gold. However, after a few days at school and many reassurances from my family, I began to feel much more comfortable and I was getting used to the constant burn at the back of my throat. After I was changed, nobody could come up with a theory about my self control that could rival Carlisles, according to Edward.

I was pulled from my daydream by Alice waving her hand back and forth across my face.

"Sorry, Alice." I apologised.

"It's okay, but we need to discuss some things, the florist called and…" I zoned out slightly, resting my head in the crook of Edward's neck and wondering what the next few days would bring.


	19. Chapter 19

**We Are Family**

 **Chapter 19**

 _ **I am happy to announce that this is the final chapter of this story! I have loved writing it and I have loved reading the amazing feedback I have been receiving since I started to write it almost two years ago. It has been an absolute pleasure to write this story, as it is a story I love expanding upon.**_

 _ **Again, thank you so much for your support, enjoy the final chapter of We Are Family.**_

 **Bella POV**

Edward and I had been married for five years, although that was a drop in the ocean compared to the many years that were ahead of us.

We had since moved from our house in Wales and we were living in a small town, ironically named Carlisle, in the north of England. It was a beautiful town, albeit small, but each member of the family loved it, we would be sad to leave there when the time came in a few years' time.

We had lived in Wales happily for five years: Edward and I had gotten married, and then Rosalie and Emmett had followed and had another wedding for themselves. As Alice was planning both weddings, of course they were both extraordinary. Mine and Edward's wedding day was a day that I will remember forever, no matter how long my life is. Alice had outdone herself, and he weeks of planning were shown in the beautiful wedding. Alice had waited for a cloudy day so that we could get married on the beach near our home, and although it was cloudy, it was one of the brightest days in my life. Alice had done the wedding traditionally, actually she had insisted as it was my 'first time' getting married. Edward had waited at the end of the aisle with Esme, whilst I had waited inside with Carlisle who was walking me down the aisle. Alice and Jasper walked out before us, as she was the first bridesmaid and Edward's best man. Rosalie and Emmett followed them as they were all members of our wedding party.

"You ready, sweetheart?" Carlisle had asked me, offering me his arm. Too nervous to speak, I had simply nodded and linked my arm through his. We had walked slowly from the back porch down to the makeshift aisle that Alice had created on the beach, I was extremely careful not to fall because of the heels I was wearing, another thing that Alice had insisted on.

When we got to the end of the aisle, my breath hitched in my throat. There he was, standing in his suit at the end of the aisle waiting for me. My arm linked with Carlisle's was the only think keeping me steady as I walked down the aisle to Edward.

"Can you please be seated?" Emmett asked. My family followed instructions and sat down in their seats. Emmett officiating the ceremony was another thing that Alice and I had argued about, I had all but demanded that Emmett officiate, but Alice had wanted it to be traditional with a qualified vicar. It was safe to say that Emmett was over the moon when I won the argument, and he opened his laptop straight away to find how someone becomes a qualified wedding officiant.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen." Emmett started, speaking slightly theatrically.

"Who presents this woman for marriage?" Emmett looked around our family, his eyes finally landing on Carlisle, he nodded.

"Right, okay. Do you Bella take Edward to be your husband? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?" Emmett looked down at me expectantly, awaiting my answer before he continued to speak.

"I do." I spoke, albeit slightly quietly.

"Great. Do you Edward take Bella to be your wife? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?" Emmett asked Edward the same question, Edward grinned before answering.

"I do."

"Then is my absolute pleasure that I announce you husband and wife. Welcome to the family Bella. You can now kiss the bride." Emmett smiled widely, moving away from us and walking to Rosalie's side.

It was then, as I kissed Edward, I realised. I realised that the Cullen's are officially my family, by name. I was now Isabella Marie Cullen, and the change bought more for me than I first realised. It allowed me to let go of some of the past and the hardships that I had gone through in the last few months. The happiness that my marriage gave me allowed me to stop thinking about all of the hardships that the Cullen's and I had left behind when we left Forks. Now that we were living in England, we had the opportunity to be happy, finally. And at the end of the day, I know that we can always be happy, regardless of where we are or who we are with, because we are family.

 _ **And that is everything! I hope you liked the last chapter, I loved writing about the wedding.**_

 _ **As always, please don't hesitate to leave a review to let me know what you thought about the last chapter. Again, thank you so much for your ongoing support!**_

 _ **Lots of love,**_

 _ **Louisaxo**_


End file.
